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Last reviewed: 03.07.2025
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[ Who is an audiologist?
An audiologist is essentially the same ENT doctor, but who knows more about ear diseases than about other organs of the nasopharynx. An audiologist diagnoses and treats congenital and traumatic lesions of the middle ear. An audiologist surgeon today is able to work miracles, perform unique surgical interventions that in many cases completely restore hearing. Auditory ossicles are made from nails and implanted in the ear.
It is useful to examine a child for preventive purposes in the first year of life, check his hearing when entering school, and if there are problems, then regularly in middle and senior school age, after the flu, measles or removal of adenoids, middle otitis, TBI, tinnitus. Sometimes drug therapy is enough to normalize hearing. If surgery is needed, you may be put on a waiting list, but you will have to wait a long time and use a hearing aid.
When should you see an audiologist?
If you are concerned about pain and noise in the ear, hearing loss, contact an audiologist. He will conduct diagnostics and prescribe treatment, individually select and adjust a hearing aid.
If you sometimes don't hear someone knocking on the door or the phone ringing, if you have trouble holding a conversation with several people, or if your loved ones make comments about you speaking loudly, or if you try to sit close to the stage at a concert, get your hearing checked. You may also be referred to other specialists, such as a neurologist.
An audiologist works in a hospital or public or private audiology centers.
By 9 months, a child usually listens to familiar sounds, babbles, and by one and a half years knows his name, the words "mama", "dada" and several others. At two years, a child should be able to put words together into simple sentences.
Older children are concerned about their deteriorating school performance.
What diagnostic methods does an audiologist use?
In his practice, the audiologist uses tympanometry - a study of the auditory tube, and also evaluates hearing at eleven frequencies. Also, according to indications, electrocochleography is performed - a method of recording the activity of the cochlea and auditory nerve during attacks of dizziness and hearing loss and ear congestion. Otomicroscopy and threshold audiometry, reflexometry are performed.
What does an audiologist do?
An audiologist diagnoses and treats hearing disorders. You should contact an audiologist if it is difficult to determine the direction of sound, if it is difficult to understand speech in crowded places. The audiologist examines the ear with an otoscope and diagnoses hearing, switching to a whisper. Based on the results of the examination, a hearing aid is selected.
The problem is that 8-10% of people have hearing loss, but at home you may not notice that you hear poorly, because you can guess a lot from the meaning. This is how the brain compensates for the deterioration of hearing.
An otolaryngologist who has specialized in ear diseases becomes an audiologist. What causes hearing loss:
- The habit of never parting with a player, and constantly spending weekends at discos and concerts.
- Working in noisy industries without headphones.
- Head injuries.
- Severe otitis.
- Failure of treatment with neurotoxic antibiotics.
- Congenital abnormalities in the structure of the middle and inner ear, or the auditory nerve.
- Acquired neuropathies of the auditory nerve after previous brain diseases.
- Diabetes mellitus.
After the doctor has diagnosed a hearing impairment and found out why the person began to hear poorly, he suggests ways to solve this problem.
Are you worried about hearing loss, sudden or chronic, otosclerosis and tinnitus, can't hear the ringtone on your phone or the intercom, often ask to repeat what was said, are you asked to speak more quietly? Do you often need to turn up the volume on the TV, otherwise you can't hear anything? Go to an audiologist as soon as possible.
Otosclerosis is a disease in which the bone of the middle ear grows. 20% of people have signs of the disease. It first appears at the end of puberty. Signs of otosclerosis: tinnitus, hearing loss.
Deafness is a significant loss of hearing, in which a person cannot perceive speech, and hard of hearing is a significant loss of hearing, in which the ability to perceive speech is preserved. Hard of hearing occurs due to the presence of earwax in the ear canal and damage to the inner ear or auditory nerve. In this case, they talk about sensorineural hearing loss. Its causes are: trauma, taking certain medications, brain diseases, rubella. Hearing aids are used to compensate for hearing loss due to hard of hearing. They are attached to the back or inside the ear. In-the-canal devices are preferable for people who are embarrassed by their illness, but they are more expensive than external ones.
Tinnitus is observed with otitis, blockage of the auditory tube, tumors of the middle ear and trauma, as well as anemia and atherosclerosis, and other vascular diseases.
For all these conditions, an audiologist will help you.
What diseases does an audiologist treat?
An audiologist treats hearing disorders both conservatively and surgically. Laser treatment and other types of physical therapy are used.
Meniere's disease is a lesion of the inner ear with hearing loss and tinnitus. The disease begins at 40-50 years of age. It is accompanied by tinnitus and congestion, numbness of the auricle.
Acoustic neuroma is a slowly developing benign tumor that causes loss of balance.
An audiologist treats all hereditary, congenital and acquired hearing pathologies: otosclerosis, perforation of the eardrum and other disorders. Gradual hearing loss is normal after 25 years. At first, a person stops hearing only sounds of very high frequency. However, severe hearing loss that interferes with normal communication is considered normal not at such a young age, but after 55 years. An audiologist selects a hearing aid for such people.
It is important that the examination by the audiologist is comfortable, especially at a children's appointment. Therefore, hearing tests for children are carried out in a playful manner.
Advice from an audiologist
It is important to prevent delays in speech development in a child with hearing loss.
A newborn baby flinches when a clap is heard at a distance of a meter from him. At 3 months, he already turns his head if he hears a familiar voice, at 1.5 years he knows the parts of the body, shows them if asked, at 2 years he follows simple requests from adults, at 4 years he follows several commands in turn, at 5 years he maintains a simple conversation.
Children whose homes are close to the railway often have hearing problems. If there is a noisy highway near your home, make sure your windows and doors are soundproof.
An audiologist helps anyone who has problems with hearing, which today can be solved quite easily with the help of hearing aids.