Going to the Audiologist — Tests I Should/Should Not Do?

I’m going to the audiologist later this month. What tests should I take, and which ones should I avoid?
@dpdx

 

Stay away from acoustic reflex, ECOG (90db), Vemp (100-110db), Tympanometry, Microsuction, Ear Syringing (Caloric Test), Caloric test with air, etc. They will Permanently increase your T.

 

Do you have any experiences taking these tests?

 

Get an extensive audiogram, frequencies up to 16,000hz
and speech and tonal noises + various background noises

as well as an OAE.
https://www.asha.org/public/hearing/Otoacoustic-Emissions/

That will check nearly the full range of healthy human hearing not just the human voice

 

Yes they are very loud and will increase your T permanently.

I agree with Contrast. You should do an audiogram all the way up to 16khz and DPOAE to see if you have outer cochlea cell damage (like I do).

 

i may have asked this before but has your hyperacusis gotten better?

 

@Nathan

Are you going for a routine check or do you have a specific problem?

This is important and will guide the appropriate tests

 

Kind of both, my ENT wants me to get my hearing checked for hearing loss. However, I want them to check out my right ear. As of now, my right ear is louder than my left ear, which is almost inaudible at times. Also, my right ear feels full at times, sometimes with a dull pain, and the secondary tone will get louder when I yawn, and it suddenly goes back to baseline when my eardrum thumps. Hopefully, it is just a wax problem.

 

Cage The Elephant - Come A Little Closer...

This is a little concerning though. Pay attention from 3:00 to 3:20. The final 2 S sounds in the “Time flies by” part are very hard/nearly impossible to hear for me. The other s sounds are clearly audible. I had no problem hearing this before the concert.

 

I do not hear S from my right ear either, where I have high frequency hearing loss.
See chart below:

 

I dont hear it either.

 

Not really. My T is still a 8/10 and blasting loud. The Vemp Test increased it permanently. I also developed dark (black) eye floaters and VS a result. I will do another hearing test next month. To see if my hearing has improved since February where I had that 25db hearing loss as a result of the tests.

Do DPOAE. This will tell you if you damaged outer cochlea cells.

 

What is a vemp test, and what do they do when you took it? I have light eye floaters occasionally after I open my eyes, but it doesn’t bother me. Lastly, what is VS? Sorry for all the questions, I’m still a T newbie.

 

Let me give you a recap:

So I got my Tinnitus initially from Ipod/Concert and have it only on the L ear. I went October 7 to an audiologist to see if my hearing is fine, did a hearing exam up to 16khz and it was normal, did dpoae and it revealed damaged cochlea cells outer. My T was moderate for two-three weeks before it reduced to Mild T where I Only heard it in a quiet room. I was able to do a lot of stuff I did before. Well my audiologist told my ENT that its weird that I have T in one ear and not the other and I should do further testing to rule out ear diseases (meniere, cochlear). My ENT made a list of 20 diseases I could have ranging from meneire, cochlear hydrops, acoustic neuroma, thyroid cancer, etc etc. I did a CT scan and MRI, which were normal. My ENT wanted me to do caloric test, ecog, vemp, acoustic reflex, tympanometry which I Declined all of them, but since I started to have balance issues I decided to the ear irrigation (Caloric test) and VEMP. Vemp is a balance tests that stimulates your vestibular system in your innear ear that is responsible for balance. Well anyways the VEMP was really loud, just like the MRI was so about 100-110db. I did it for two minutes. The week after that my T jumped from a 2/10 to a 10/10 and then dropped in two weeks to 8/10 where it stayed since. I developed hyperacusis in both of my ears with severe hyperacusis on my right ear. I went back to my audiologist to do a hearing exam and my hearing dropped from 5db to 25db/30db somewhere between those. He told my I have mild hearing loss and that is perfectly normal and the reason why the hearing dropped 20db on 4khz is because I am under extreme stress/anxiety. I went back to my ENT and told her what happened and she started to yell me at me, she then said if I have money to do TRT because that wilL REALLY help me. She said she has faith in me that my T will go back to mild (it hasn't). My T has been very loud ever since February. I developed many black eye floaters and Visual Snow. Mind you I didnt have this before, basically Visual Snow is like bad static that you see on TV. It looks something like this. Next month is my 1 year anniversary and sadly I didnt get better.

 

You will probably undergo pure tone audiometry. If I were you I'd make sure that conductive tests are performed as well (with a transducer either in the back of your ear or on your forehead), as well as word recognition, and with/without masking.

Of course it's always nice if you can have an extended audiogram, but in practice I haven't seen it change the "next steps" so I'm dubious about its practical utility.

If your ENT doc wants other types of test, you can ask why: he should be able to justify the need for it as part of the diagnosis process.

 

I already have old man eyes. Thank goodness I don’t have visual snow.

 

My hearing and vision is worse than my grandfather who is 73. Once again I was a healthy 27 year old last year during this time with this whole life ahead of him. This is crazy what happened...I got so much grey hair after what has happened to me. I am seriously afraid of what is going to happen to me in the future.

 

My grandpa is in his 60s, and has been to over a hundred concerts and played guitar. He says he only gets T occasionally. It astonishies me how younger people can get this much worse than older people.

 

My dad has mild hearing loss. my grandpa has moderate hearing loss. neither of them having tinnitus, hyperacusis. I have mild hearing loss and my brain is going crazy like I been deprived of all my senses. crazyyy..

 

To be fair, I've asked people with perfect hearing to watch that video and they all said they couldn't hear the "S" in the "time flies by" either. They don't have T

I could hear the "S" in the first one @ 3:02...but i can't hear it any more after that...I think he's saying "time fly by" after that...but what do i know.

I dont have hearing loss in my left ear but my right ear has just a tiny bit of loss. I can hear very well....just have T =[

 

Me too

 

It's going to be ok *hugs* i wish i could hug u in real life...but for now this is all i can do =]

 

Do you know how old the people you showed were? I would expect an adult not to hear this, but I’m 16 years old, and I was very alarmed when I discovered I couldn’t hear this anymore. I’m pretty sure I still have “perfect” hearing though.

 

I showed it to 4 people, two of them are in their 20s, the other two were in their thirties. They all heard the "S" at 3:02 but none after that. They don't attend concerts or go to loud venues.Did you hear it when you wore headphones? Was the music super loud when you heard it? I didn't increase the volume on my monitor so who knows.

You must have had super sonic hearing or something, as I could hear a fly buzzing about when i am in the shower lol

 

When did you notice improvement in your T? After on year?

 

I could hear it from both speakers and headphones. The music was somewhat loud, but not blasting, usually 60-65 percent at most with Apple earbuds and 50-55 with my noise canceling headphones.

 

Yes, I have always had very sensitive ears. I hated loud noises when I was little.

 

I think it took 7 months honestly before the sound was noticeably getting lower, then habituation at 8 months and then I totally forgot about it.

Oops i forgot to include the two times I had a major spike after a tire explosion and when i was at a restaurant where a band just started playing right behind me. I was freaking out, the first incident the T went back to normal after a month, the 2nd incident went away after 2 days.

 

Wow so resilient. I would do anything to be where you are at right now.. You are so luckyyy.

 

We are in different positions, I had a bit of a head start...I am sure yours will improve (because i used to feel hopeless about my case too). Besides, T is unpredictable and I'll never know when mine will suddenly become a jet engine in my ears one day. We just gotta live day to day and pray for the best <3