Hearing Test: Auditory Pathways

We’re talking about what’s involved in a hearing test. The first and most basic part of hearing tests is to ascertain the health and integrity of the auditory pathways.

In our previous blogs, we talked about the importance of having a clear channel leading inside the ear. We talked about the middle ear being the “mechanical” room. Now, we’re talking about the third part of the year which we call the inner ear, or the nerve.

Auditory Pathways: The Inner Ear Nerve

This nerve has two parts; one portion controls your balance another portion controls your hearing.  This whole nerve is full of dense fluid and inside that fluid are about 20,000 little cilia or hair cells. They kind of look like a hair on your hand, but on a microscopic level. 

What’s amazing is that each one of these little hair structures controls a pitch or a tone.  Those hairs in your ear, kind of like the hairs on the top of your head could change over time. 

These changes could be caused by just simple aging process, by toxic noise, or by medications. Lots of things can damage that nerve. In fact, 90% of all hearing loss happens because of atrophy or damage to this portion.

Checking Your Auditory Pathways

Here at HearCare Audiology, we’ve got a couple different ways we can assess that.  The hearing test is done in a sound booth.  Our procedures allow us to determine whether the hearing loss is caused by a temporary condition or more of a permanent damage to the nerve.

We also have a machine for otoacoustic emissions. It’s a machine where we simply put a little probe tip in your ear canal. This machine sends a signal all the way down to the inner ear. 

It gets those hairs we talked about all excited and we actually measured the emission, the sound coming back out of the ear.  It allows us to very quickly ascertain the health and integrity of the inner ear.

Hearing Tests at Fort Wayne, IN