Kuulmisehindamine

Kuulmisehindamine, also known as audiological assessment or hearing evaluation, is a systematic process used to determine an individual's hearing ability. It involves a series of tests conducted by audiologists or other trained hearing healthcare professionals to identify the presence, type, and degree of hearing loss. The primary goal is to understand how well a person can hear at different frequencies and intensities of sound.

The process typically begins with a review of the individual's medical history and a discussion about any perceived hearing difficulties. This is followed by objective and subjective tests. Objective tests, such as tympanometry and otoacoustic emissions, assess the function of the middle ear and inner ear without requiring the patient's active participation. Subjective tests, most notably pure-tone audiometry, involve the patient responding to sounds presented through headphones. This allows for the creation of an audiogram, a graph that visually represents hearing thresholds at various frequencies. Speech audiometry, another common subjective test, evaluates how well a person understands spoken words at different loudness levels.

The results of these assessments are crucial for diagnosing hearing loss, determining its cause, and developing an appropriate management plan. This plan may include recommendations for hearing aids, cochlear implants, assistive listening devices, or other rehabilitative strategies. Regular hearing evaluations are also important for monitoring changes in hearing over time, especially for individuals with known hearing impairments or those exposed to loud noise.