If you think you might be struggling with hearing loss, there’s an easy way to find out.
There is now a scientifically validated test that you can take over the phone in the privacy of your own home. Bonus: It’s free for the month. The limited-time screening is being offered by MDHearingAid in partnership with the National Hearing Test.
Unlike hearing exams offered in doctors offices, which use a series of beeps and hums at various frequencies and volumes to evaluate potential hearing loss, the telephone test uses speech and background noise. “There’s a very high correlation between how you hear speech in a noisy room and your level of hearing loss as measured with pure tones in an office setting,” Dr. Charles Watson, principal investigator for the National Hearing Test, told National Public Radio (NPR) in an interview.
Watson says getting your hearing tested is the first step in determining whether you are a candidate for products that can help. “It’s a test intended to be very, very convenient,” Watson told NPR.
The way it works is this: You log onto a website to receive a code, then call the phone number listed and input the code. The system will tell you what to expect and walk you through the steps to taking the test, which, Watson says, should be taken in a quiet room. Callers will then listen (one ear at a time) to a series of three-digit numbers with noise in the background. The test will get progressively more difficult, and the numbers harder to hear. The results are readily available, and those with slightly below or far below normal hearing levels are advised to seek a full evaluation by an audiologist.
Unlike vision problems, researchers say that hearing loss can be so gradual that it goes undetected for years, primarily because those affected are in denial. Watson says his hope is that people will get the help they need. To date, nearly 40,000 people have screened themselves for hearing loss using the National Hearing Test. Of these, 81 percent had significant hearing loss in at least one ear, if not both.
