There can be many reasons why you have difficulty with your hearing. These include:
- Blockages in the ears
- Infections
- Damage to the ear, for example a perforated ear drum
- Age related deterioration
- Exposure to loud noise
- Inherited problems
- Hearing problems related to other medical conditions
We will be able to give you specific advice when we have assessed your hearing.
We will assess your hearing using a test called Pure Tone Audiometry.
This involves you listening to sounds through a headset and pressing a button to let us know when you can hear them.
We will test a wide range of sounds to build up a picture of how well you can hear. We can then relate this to the examination of your ear to determine where any problems may be occurring.
Together, we will decide the best course of action to help you with your hearing.
Ensure that your GP has checked that your ears are free from wax. It may not be possible to complete the appointment if you have a significant amount of wax in your ears.
In some cases, hearing loss is permanent, but this can usually be helped by using some hearing aids. In other cases, hearing loss may be corrected either medically or by surgery. The options available depend upon the type of hearing loss you have, and this will be discussed with you by your Audiologist or ENT doctor at your assessment.
Most people’s hearing will get worse with age. Occasionally, some medical conditions can affect the age at which this will begin and how quickly it may deteriorate. This will be discussed with you by your Audiologist or ENT doctor at your assessment.
The timescales involved in hearing loss can vary greatly however for most, hearing loss occurs gradually over many years.
Very few medical conditions cause people to go completely deaf. For most, hearing loss will begin as a mild problem developing, over many years into a moderate problem.
QE Gateshead is committed to providing high-quality digital hearing aids from some of the world’s most advanced manufacturers to our patients. Our latest range of hearing aids is behind the ear models ranging from discrete miniature open fit devices to larger ultra-power models to suit those with more severe hearing impairments.
If we provide your hearing aids they will be free of charge.
Different people take different amounts of time to get used to their hearing aids. To get the best from your device it is beneficial to wear it as much as possible, ideally first thing in the morning until the last thing in the ev