Frequently Asked Questions to our Audiologist about hearing and ear related issues

Ms. Ears Questions and Answers

Questions about Hearing Tests from real people and answered by real audiologists

What is a tympanogram?
I am working on a high school project on the average minimal decibel level for students to hear a noise. Could you give me any information concerning this subject, or tell me anything that could skew my results?
What are "ling sounds"?
Do you know of any computer "hearing aid calibration test" programs that are available?
I have recently had a hearing test. The test shows the "UCL" and some other comfort levels, with numbers ranging between 80 and 92. What does this mean?
Do you know if NY is one of the US states mandating mandatory newborn auditory testing and where would I find pricing for the necessary equipment?

QUESTION: My four year old just had a tympanogram done and it was negative. What does this mean?

ANSWER: A tympanogram tests the compliance of the middle ear. The test helps answer the following questions: Is the eardrum intact? Do the middle ear bones move? Is there fluid in the middle ear? Does the middle ear system move and work normally? Normally if a test is "negative" that means the results were within normal limits. What is a little confusing in this case is that there can be a "negative" pressure in the middle ear that shows on a tympanogram. This "negative" test result on a tympanogram most often means that the ear drum is retracted into the middle ear, or the middle ear has fluid, not allowing eardrum to move. This condition needs to be treated by your child's doctor. Thank you for your question. Sincerely, Ms. Ears.

QUESTION: I am working on a high school project on the average minimal decibel level for high school students to hear a noise or beep. We are using an audiometer for the test. Could you give me any information concerning this subject, or tell me anything that could skew my results? The test will use a random sample of high school students.

ANSWER: I think it is great to study hearing in high school students, as many of them may harm their hearing by listening to music that is too loud. When you test hearing with an audiometer and establish the softest decibel level a person can hear with a beep, you are finding their hearing threshold at that frequency. Some notes on this type of testing:

Use pure tones, one ear at a time. Present the tone at about 40dB to start. If the individual hears the tone, lower the volume by 10dB and present again. Do this until the individual cannot hear the tone, and then raise the tone in 5dB steps until the person hears the tone again. Repeat this until the individual hears the tone 2 out of 3 times at the same level while you are moving up in 5dB steps. This is the correct way to establish the threshold, which you then repeat at each frequency.
Test the frequencies in this order, 1000, 500, 250, repeat 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 6000 and 8000.
You need to make sure you are testing in a quiet room. Audiologists use sound rooms that have been specially designed and built to ensure that the test area is very quiet.
Make sure that the headphones fit right over the ears.

There are many other types of hearing tests that audiologists perform depending on the hearing problems of the individual, but this is the basic pure tone air test. Thank you for your question. Good luck on your project and please write me and let me know how it progresses. Sincerely, Ms. Ears.

QUESTION: What are "ling sounds"? Have you ever heard of a Ling 5 sound test?

ANSWER: The ling sounds are five or six English sounds that are used to determine a child's auditory responsiveness to speech stimuli. The sounds chosen are representative of a range of sounds that occur in conversational speech. The five sounds are: /a, i, u, s, S/ and the sixth sound is /m/. The two tests are called the "Ling Five Sounds Test" and the "Ling Six Sounds Test". I hope this helps. Sincerely, Ms Ears.

QUESTION: I wear programmable CIC hearing aids from NU-EAR. When the audiologist programs them it is impossible to tell if the new settings are correct. I have been looking for a digital hearing test program that would allow me to test pure tones with my computer. Do you know of any "hearing test" programs that are available?

ANSWER: It is hard to know if the new programs on a hearing aid are set exactly correctly. Your audiologist will set the programs at first fitting, then adjust according to your feedback. There are two types of tests that the audiologist can perform to verify the hearing aid settings. One is to test pure tones in a sound booth using speakers (headphones can cause your hearing aid to whistle or feedback). The second test is called Real Ear Measurement testing where a probe tube is placed in the ear canal and sound is presented without and with the hearing aid in your ear. A computer will plot the results, indicating to the audiologist how well the hearing aid is adjusted to your hearing loss.

It is difficult to test your hearing at home on your computer for two reasons. First, I have not heard of a program that can do an accurate job (calibration of sound levels is a big problem). Second, using headphones can cause your hearing aids to feedback, making the test invalid. Go back to your audiologist and ask her to perform either sound field testing or real ear testing. Sincerely, Ms. Ears.

QUESTION: I have recently had a hearing test. The test shows the "UCL" and some other comfort levels, with numbers ranging between 80 and 92. What does this mean?

ANSWER: Speech testing, as part of a hearing test, does a number of things. One, it verifies the pure tone testing. Two, it helps us to understand how a person understands speech. "MCL" is the "most comfortable level". This is the level at which speech is most comfortable (in most cases from 45 to 70 dB HL. "UCL" is the "uncomfortable level". This is the level that speech becomes unbearable (in most cases from 85 to 110 dB HL). MCL and UCL are also used in the design of hearing aids to set volume and the maximum level of output a hearing aid will produce. Sincerely, Ms. Ears.

QUESTION: I am currently a student in an RN Associate Degree program graduating in two weeks. I have chosen "Mandatory Auditory Testing in Newborns" as a mock presentation to the hospital board. I must impress upon the board the need for such a policy along with the cost for the equipment etc. Do you know if NY is one of the US states mandating this testing and where would I find pricing for the necessary equipment? Thank you.

ANSWER: Newborn testing is very important and with the improvements in OAE (otoacoustic emission), testing can be very simple. I don't know if NY mandates this testing at this time. Call the NY hearing and speech association and they would be able to help you. As to the pricing of the equipment, about $7,000 and up for a computer based OAE system. There are a number of equipment distributors including Starkey, Siemens and Phonak, all with sites on the web. I hope this helps and good luck. Sincerely, Ms. Ears

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