WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DIAGNOSTIC AND SCREENING AUDIOMETRY?
Screening audiometry is used to simply identify if conductive hearing loss is an issue for the patient. The clinician will most commonly perform pure tone audiometry testing to present tones to the patient and find out at which decibel levels there may be hearing loss. If the screening audiometry testing concludes that there is hearing loss, the next step would be to use diagnostic audiometry to try identify what exactly is going on that is causing the hearing loss and how extensive the damage is.
WHAT WILL AN AUDIOGRAM TELL YOU?
Once users have completed testing, the audiometer will have prepared a report called an audiogram. What an audiogram will tell the tester is at what decibel levels the patient may be experiencing hearing loss and how extensive the hearing loss is at each level.
WHAT TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTS ARE AUDIOMETERS USED IN?
Audiometers can be used in a large number of different testing scenarios. At audiology and ENT clinics, screening and diagnostic audiometry may be used to as a vital part of obtaining an entire hearing healthcare profile of a patient. In schools, the school nurse may use an audiometer for routine screening of children to identify if students may have a potential hearing issue. This is important to identify as early as possible so a plan of action can be made before that hearing loss affects the students communication skills and development.