Audiology

Guthrie’s Audiology Department specializes in the diagnosis of hearing disorders. Services include: comprehensive hearing assessments and vestibular balance testing, providing state-of-the-art analog and digital hearing aids, industrial audiology services, metabolic hearing evaluations, electronystagnograms (ENG), otoacoustic emissions testing, and tympanometry. For more information about audiology services at Guthrie, call (570) 882-2261, or chose an option below:

Meet Our Providers
What is an Audiologist?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Hearing Assessment?
Understanding Your Audiogram
Types of Hearing Loss

Selecting a Hearing Aid
Better Hearing with Both Ears
Communication Strategies
Speech Mapping
Other Services

What is an Audiologist?

An audiologist is a professional who specializes in hearing loss or problems. Audiologists diagnose, treat and manage patients from birth to adulthood. Guthrie audiologists thoroughly evaluate the communication needs of each patient to better select hearing aids and assistive devices to maximize improvement.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Hearing Loss

For most patients, devices and rehabilitative therapies can help reduce hearing loss.

To determine the exact cause of your hearing loss, and how it can best be managed, contact your physician for a complete medical examination. If you suspect you have hearing loss, ask yourself these questions suggested by the National Institutes of Health:

Do you have a problem hearing over the telephone?
Do you have trouble following the conversation when two or more people are talking at the same time?
Do people complain that you turn the TV volume up too high?
Do you have to strain to understand conversation?
Do you have trouble hearing in a noisy background?
Do you find yourself asking people to repeat themselves?
Do many people you talk to seem to mumble or not speak clearly?
Do you misunderstand what others are saying and respond inappropriately?
Do you have trouble understanding the speech of women and children?
Do people get annoyed because you misunderstand what they say?

If you answered yes to three or more of these questions, you may want to seek a hearing evaluation. It is important to be evaluated early if you think you might have hearing loss. Over time, the brain forgets how to process sounds that it hasn’t heard in a while.

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What is a Hearing Assessment?
A basic hearing test is performed with an audiometer, a device that produces various pitch sound frequencies at different levels of intensity. As the patient hears the different sounds, he or she will raise a hand or press a button. The results are then recorded on an audiogram which lets the audiologist know if the results are within normal limits. If there are problems with a patient’s hearing, additional diagnostic testing can be done to understand the extent and possible cause of hearing loss.

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Understanding Your Audiogram
An audiogram is a picture of your hearing assessment. Every point on an audiogram represents a different sound. The softest sound you are able to hear at each pitch is recorded on the audiogram. This is called your threshold. A threshold of zero to 25 decibels (dB) is considered normal for adults. An example of a 25 dB sound is someone whispering. The horizontal lines represent loudness, while the vertical lines represent pitch. The vertical line on the left side of the audiogram represents a very low pitch sound and each vertical line to the right represents a higher pitch. The horizontal line on the top of the audiogram represents a soft sound, and each horizontal line down represents a louder sound. For example, the picture of the plane would represent a high pitch, loud sound. The letters on the audiogram represent where those certain sounds happen in the english language on the graph. For example, the “TH” sound is a high frequency soft sound.

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Types of Hearing Loss
Conductive Hearing Loss: This type of hearing loss is a condition of the outer and/or middle ear. It occurs when sounds from the outside world cannot be transmitted normally through the ear canal and/or middle ear. The most common causes of conductive hearing loss are the buildup of wax in the ear canal, perforated eardrums, fluid in the middle ear (common in children), or damaged or defective ossicles (middle ear bones).

Sensorineural Hearing Loss: This type of hearing loss occurs when the delicate nerves (hair cells) in the inner ear break down. They then become unable to convert sound vibrations into the electrical signals needed by the auditory nerve. The nerve pathways in the auditory nerve can also become damaged, preventing the signals from reaching the brain. Although this damage can be cause by exposure to loud noise, the primary reason is aging.

Mixed Hearing Loss: This kind of hearing loss is caused by a combinations of problems in the middle and inner ear.

For more information about hearing loss and disorders, click here.

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Selecting a Hearing Aid
There are four basic kinds of hearing aids: behind-the-ear (BTE), in-the-ear (ITE), in-the-canal (ITC), and completely-in-the-canal (CITC). The primary factor in determining the style of hearing aid is the degree and severity of hearing loss. Other factors include the shape and size of your ear, as well as how comfortable you are with removal and insertion of a hearing aid are used in determining what type is best for you. If you have hearing loss at certain pitches but not others, hearing aids that do not fully block the ear canal may be better. The degree of hearing loss and the severity of it may also determine selection. Feedback is less likely to occur in BTE hearing aids and people with profound and severe hearing loss may benefit more from them.

The most important thing is to discuss all options with your audiologist. At Guthrie, patients have a 45-day, money-back trial period for all hearing aids.

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Better Hearing with Both Ears
Better able to hear with both ears is just as important as being able to see with both eyes. If you have difficulty hearing with both ears, you will most likely benefit from a binaural fitting – wearing a hearing aid in both ears.

The most important benefits of wearing two are:

Your ability to localize sounds will improve.
It will be easier to understand speech in noisy surroundings.
The risk of ‘auditory deprivation’ (the brain gradually loses some of its ability to process information from the unaided ear because of a continued lack of sound stimulation) is considerably reduced.
You will experience a fuller, more comfortable sound picture.

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Communication Strategies
Communication is the key to all human activity. If someone has hearing loss, communication can be very challenging. Hearing aids can improve one’s hearing, but even the most advanced instruments cannot restore it. There are communication techniques that can be adopted by friends and family that can make communication easier for the hard-of-hearing.

Talking face-to-face is one way to improve communication. Don’t try to converse from a different room or with your back turned to the person you are talking to. It is easier to hear and understand what people are saying when you can see what they are saying. Visual clues like facial expressions and lip movements can help a listener understand better. It is also important to keep things away from you head or mouth. For instance, smoking or chewing gum, or even resting your face on your hand can make it more difficult for someone to read facial expressions and understand what you are saying.

Speaking at a normal conversation level when talking with someone who wears a hearing aid is perfectly fine. Most instruments are programmed to amplify a normal level of speech, so if you shout, it may be too loud or even painful for the listener. Speak naturally and try to pronounce words clearly. If you are having trouble being understood, try rephrasing rather than repeating yourself. Some words are harder to understand or lip-read than others.

Eliminating background noise, such as turning off the television or radio, can also help someone who is hard-of-hearing understand you better. If you cannot eliminate the background noise, move closer to the listener so your voice is louder than the background noise.

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Speech Mapping
Guthrie audiologists now provide hearing aid evaluations using speech mapping, which shows patients the benefits of hearing aids and also provides a baseline reading of the patient’s hearing capacity without hearing aids. Speech mapping is also used to fit hearing aids and ensure proper programming.

The process works by plugging a Bluetooth® transmitter into a computer which interfaces with a neck loop worn by the patient and connected to the patient’s hearing aids. Speech mapping and Bluetooth® technology allow audiologists to monitor the effects of hearing aid performance in a live-voice situation. Patients are able to see in real-time how the hearing aid is working and to bring any missing parts of speech back into audibility for the hearing aid wearer. The use of this technology can be tailored to the needs of the patient so that the process results in greater satisfaction and improved comfort.