The Importance of Going to a GOOD Hospital for Hearing Test

A few weeks ago I went to a local audiologist (in the bay area), not affiliated with any hospital, because it was close to my work. I got a hearing test that showed slight loss and they also told me my otoacoustic emissions test was really concerning, with super low response across the spectrum, suggesting that I had serious damage in my inner ear. This caused me considerable anguish and feelings of hopelessness, to say the least...

Fast forward to today. I'm visiting family in Philadelphia and make a hearing test appointment at the UPenn hospital (4th best ENT in the nation, claims some ranking, but the hospital is undoubtedly one of the nation's best, right up there with Stanford and Mass General). Much better experience. They run all the tests and tell me my hearing (and OAE) are perfectly normal for my age (31).

This gives me hope that doxycycline didn't actually do (much?) damage to my ears and (for better or for worse) perhaps I am a pure stress onset for T. But that will hopefully be something easier to overcome.

To think I could have avoided all that anguish (and additional, T-aggravating stress!) by simply going to a better ENT center to start!

Now if only they had a cure...

 

If you think that's bad, you'd really enjoy the VA audiology clinic on Mare Island. The sound booth and headphones I used looked like leftovers from the 70's.

 

Given the prevalence of T among our veterans, having such awful facilities for audiology seems especially cruel.

But from me at least, thank you for your service.

 

@JohnK Did they test to 16KHz or the standard 8KHz? My audiogram looks normal to 8KHz, but I have significant losses at 10-12 KHz, and that is where my T lives. What is your estimated T frequency?

 

IIRC up to 16k but I'll check again tomorrow--will have to rustle around somewhere in my parents' house for that and don't want to interrupt their sleep.

My estimated T freq is around 12-13k.