Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is an Audiologist?

An audiologist is a licensed professional who diagnoses, treats, and manages those with hearing loss and balance disorders. Audiologists use a variety of testing devices to determine the nature and severity of a hearing impairment(s). Often, audiologists will recommend, dispense, and fit amplification systems such as assistive listening devices and hearing aids. Audiologists often work with other healthcare professionals such as physicians, otologists, otolaryngologists, neurotologists, and speech-language pathologists, etc.

2. Why do people lose their hearing?

People lose their hearing for many reasons. Not all hearing loss is necessarily permanent. A conductive hearing loss is often treated by a physician or an Ear, Nose and Throat physician. A sensorineural hearing loss is permanent. This can happen for a number of reasons, including: age, noise-exposure, medication(s), genetics or trauma to the ear/head. A number of these people can be fit very successfully with hearing aids!

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3. How do I know if I need hearing aids?

The world we live in is noisy. There are many listening situations where communication is difficult to hear and understand. For example, listening in a restaurant or any other noisy environment, church, women and children, television, theater or business meetings.

These situations are hard enough for normal hearing individuals let alone anyone who has hearing loss. The best way to determine if you need hearing aids is to see an audiologist. They will be able to diagnose any hearing loss, and make recommendations for a specific hearing instrument if needed.

Take our free online hearing screening to find out if you may have a hearing loss. Click here to start the online hearing screening.

4. What are the different types of hearing aids?

There are many different types of hearing aids in terms of styles and sophistication of technology. The level of technology is the circuit that is inside the hearing aid. These circuits can be fairly basic, or very sophisticated, depending on the needs of the patient. Hearing aids come in many sizes. We offer a full range of sizes, from the behind-the-ear (for severe to profound hearing losses) to completely-in-the-canal hearing aids that are practically invisible. To know which kind of hearing aid is best for you, contact our office today!

5. How do I know what type of hearing aid is best for me?

To know what type of hearing aid is best for you, you should consult an audiologist who can tell you exactly the type of device that you need. Hearing aids come in many sizes. Often the size of the hearing aid correlates to the severity of hearing loss. In addition, an audiologist can help you to determine the best type of hearing aid to fit your lifestyle and budget. Call our offices today to determine which hearing aid may be best suited for you!

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6. How do you test children and infants?

We test children and infants with several methods, both behavioral and objectively. Behavioral testing consists of conditioning a child to respond to a specific sound. For example, often we can train young children (approximately 3 years) to place a "peg in a hole" each time they hear a sound. Objective testing does not require the child to do any "task" during testing. Most of these tests require that children hold relatively still during the duration of testing. Objective tests can measure aspects of hearing without any response.

7. What is tinnitus and what are some of the treatments?

Tinnitus is the perception of sound(s) in the ear(s) or in the head when no outside or external sound source is present. Tinnitus can be a ringing, buzzing, whooshing, clicking, or even music. These can be constant or intermittent sounds that are perceived. For additional information regarding tinnitus, you can visit the official website for the-American Tinnitus-Association (www.ata.org).

8. What type of health insurance do you accept?

Some health insurance companies and insurance plans will pay (partially or completely) for hearing aids. Here at Allied Hearing Services we are always happy to check for each patient to determine if insurance will pay for hearing aids. Click here to visit our web page to view all of our currently accepted insurance's.

9. How much are hearing aids?

We offer hearing aids that range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. We will do our best to find the highest quality hearing aid in your budget!

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