Port Credit Hearing Assessment Centre in Mississauga, ON

If you’re experiencing hearing loss, you might notice the following signs in yourself or your loved ones:

• Asking people to repeat themselves more often
• Struggling to understand conversation in a noisy environment
• Mishearing certain words (usually with sh, th, f, ch sounds)
• Complaining that everyone is mumbling
• Being told with increased frequency to turn down the TV
• Struggling to understand conversations over the phone
• Experiencing a constant ringing or buzzing in your ears
• Others saying “You need to get your ears checked”

The majority of hearing loss cases are the result of presbycusis, or the deterioration of the structural components of the inner ear, usually associated with aging or genetics. However, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), caused by frequent or ongoing exposure to loud noise without proper hearing protection, is the second most common cause of permanent hearing loss.

Additional causes of temporary or permanent hearing loss include ear canal blockages by earwax or some other foreign object, inflammation, growths or tumors and the use of certain ototoxic drugs and medications.

There are three different types of hearing loss identified by hearing care providers. They are:

• Conductive Hearing Loss: Involves an obstruction (earwax, inflammation, growth, foreign object, etc.) in the ear canal or an issue in the middle ear that prevents sound from reaching the inner ear.
• Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Relates to permanent damage of inner ear structures (cochlea) or within the auditory nerve, caused by aging, noise exposure, ototoxic medications, cancer treatments or severe illnesses.
• Mixed Hearing Loss: A combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss.

Your capacity to hear different frequencies (pitches) at various levels of intensity (volume) is measured and recorded on an audiogram. Your specific hearing loss will be classified in one of the following five categories by your hearing care provider:

• Mild: You have trouble hearing conversations in a noisy room or when someone speaks softly. It usually goes unnoticed and is manageable in a quiet environment.
• Moderate: At this level, you will struggle to understand conversations in group settings. You’re apt to have the TV turned up too loud and frequently need to ask people to repeat what they said.
• Moderately Severe: This level of hearing loss makes it difficult to hear and understand speech, which is nearly impossible in group settings or when talking on the telephone.
• Severe: When you’ve reached this level of hearing loss, normal conversation is nearly inaudible, and you may even struggle to understand someone who speaks in a loud voice.
• Profound: Those experiencing this level of hearing impairment hear only the loudest of sounds and do not even hear when someone is shouting.

It’s possible but rare. Single-sided hearing loss can occur, but most people experience bilateral hearing loss or a loss in both ears. The severity of hearing loss may be greater in one ear than the other, or you may learn to favour one ear over the other as your hearing deteriorates.

True unilateral hearing loss can result from:

• Congenital or genetic defects
• Illness or infection
• Head or ear trauma

Some types of hearing loss cannot be prevented, but their effects on your lifestyle and quality of life can be limited if you take the following precautions:

• Limit your exposure to noise with proper hearing protection while at work, doing chores around the house (mowing the lawn, sawing wood, etc.), participating in recreational activities (snowmobiling, target shooting, hunting, etc.) or attending a concert, nightclub or major sporting event.
• Schedule annual hearing tests, especially if you’re over the age of 50, allowing you and your hearing care provider to monitor the changes in your hearing health and take pre-emptive measures.
• Use hearing aids to address your hearing loss, which allows you to get the most out of the hearing ability you have left, helps you continue to maintain your balance, prevents cognitive decline and protects your brain's capacity to recognize speech.

Hearing aids provide the best solution for 95% of individuals with a sensorineural hearing loss. However, if you experience a conductive hearing loss, it may require a different approach. Your hearing healthcare professional will be able to advise on an effective way forward to improve or correct any impairment you have.

A hearing screening is a basic or preliminary hearing evaluation, usually involving just otoscopy and a four-tone audiometry test. It can be conducted to help determine that you have a hearing loss but it doesn’t detect the severity or type of hearing loss or give any indication of the type of treatment needed.

Our comprehensive hearing assessments include video otoscopy, tympanometry, pure tone audiometry, a bone conduction test, speech-in-noise testing and speech audiometry to ensure that we can provide you with the best solution for your unique hearing challenge.

An adult's hearing test is $65.00 and a child’s hearing test (aged 5-17) is $125.00.

No, hearing tests are no longer covered by OHIP. They were removed from OHIP coverage in August 2001. However, there are some exceptions to this rule.

For example, if you are being examined by an otolaryngologist or an ear, nose, and throat specialist (ENT) and a hearing test is conducted during the appointment, the specialist can bill OHIP for the test.

We enjoy the opportunity to get to know our patients better, but the reason behind this initial conversation is to develop a better understanding of the various genetic tendencies and medical conditions as well as occupational and lifestyle activities that put your hearing at greater risk. Our conversation also allows you to describe how your hearing challenges are affecting your life and ask questions and express concerns about hearing loss, hearing aids and the hearing care services we provide.

Your comprehensive hearing assessment will continue with a physical examination of your ears using an otoscope (a magnifying glass with a light on a tapered tip). During this part of the exam, we’re evaluating the structural condition of your outer ear in order to identify obstructions from earwax accumulation, the presence of foreign objects, inflammation or damage to the eardrum.

A professional comprehensive hearing assessment might include any or several of a series of hearing tests that help pinpoint the exact type of hearing loss and its level of severity, including:

• Tympanometry
• Pure Tone Audiometry
• Speech Audiometry
• Bone Conduction Testing
• Speech-in-Noise Testing

One of the advantages of hearing tests is that you don’t have to wait for results to come back from the lab; you’ll have them as soon as the testing is finished. Consequently, during the same visit the tests are conducted, your hearing care provider will provide you with an honest discussion about your test results and what they mean.

In addition, we’ll discuss the different options available to maintain or improve your hearing, whether through the use of hearing protection, changes to medications, changes to your lifestyle, or the use for hearing aids or other interventions. During this discussion, we value your input as we work to establish a viable hearing care partnership that begins with honesty and trust.