What to Expect

Hearing loss is much more common than you think—and nearly every hearing impairment can be treated today. Modern hearing aids are designed to help people get more enjoyment from life. But you may be hesitant to seek help for your hearing difficulties because of what you might imagine to be a mysterious and intimidating process awaiting you. Nothing could be farther from the truth. To help ease the anxiety and shed some light on what lies ahead, here’s what you can expect during your visit to an AccuQuest Hearing Center:

1. The Appointment Setting

To get started, call 1-888-912-5566 to connect directly to the AccuQuest Hearing Center nearest you. Our friendly Patient Care Coordinator will speak with you to determine the type of care you might need...a simple checkup, aid repair, or a diagnostic hearing evaluation. He or she will then schedule you to come in and meet with one of our expert hearing professionals.

2. Welcome and Otoscope Examination

Following a questionnaire to establish your general health and health history, your hearing professional will conduct a painless visual examination of the ear with a video otoscope. You will see what the practitioner sees on a monitor or large screen TV. This examination will reveal obstructions or infections that might affect your hearing. If a condition requiring medical treatment is detected, you will be referred to an ear, nose, and throat specialist.

If there is no medical reason for hearing loss—such as wax blockage, perforated eardrum, hyperthyroidism or other conditions—your hearing specialist will perform a series of tests to determine if you will benefit from hearing aids.

3. Hearing Evaluations

A hearing professional uses an audiometer to conduct testing. This equipment emits sounds or tones, like musical notes, at various frequencies and at differing volumes or decibel levels. Testing is usually done in a soundproof testing room.
During some of the tests, you will wear headphones to block distracting sounds. At the sound of a tone, you will be asked to use a gesture or a device to indicate when you hear tones.

The practitioner will lower the volume and repeat tones until you can no longer detect them. This process is repeated over a wide range of tones and frequencies from very deep, low sounds, to very high frequency sounds. Each ear is tested separately because sensitivity to sound often differs from one ear to the other.

4. Hearing Aid Demonstration

Based upon your level of hearing loss, your hearing specialist will recommend a hearing solution that best fits your lifestyle, hearing loss severity, cosmetic preferences, and budget. The specialist will fit you with a set of custom programmed hearing aids to demonstrate the improved hearing that you could expect with your new aids.

5. Hearing Aid Selection

We are proud to sell, fit and service some of the finest and most advanced hearing aids ever. You can get a general idea of the types of hearing aids available today before your appointment. Upon your selection of style and color of aid, your hearing professional will discuss with you our flexible payment options – including personal check, all major credit cards, and convenient payment plans. Payment plans include 12-month no-interest plans and fixed rate plans up to 60 months.

Once payment is arranged, the hearing aid ordering process begins and your hearing aids will arrive back at office soon. You will then be contacted to return for the fitting and your 30 or 45 day trial (depending on area) begins that day.

6. The Fitting

Since your level of hearing loss is unique to you, each aid needs to be programmed and fine tuned to ensure that you are receiving the very best results from your aids. When you arrive for your fitting, your hearing professional will place the aids in your ears and program them to the settings that ensure you are getting the very best results.

At first you will notice background, or ambient, sounds that you have not been hearing possibly for some time. These background noises might be the refrigerator running, the air conditioner humming, or traffic noise. When you had good hearing, your brain was conditioned to “tune out” these sounds. Since your brain hasn’t had to tune out these noises during your time with untreated hearing loss, it’s a bit out of practice. As you consistently wear your hearing aids, your brain will adjust to these noises and automatically begin to tune them out so that you can enjoy hearing all that you were meant to hear.

7. Follow Up

Your hearing specialist will schedule a follow up visit at which time you will have an opportunity to discuss your experiences with your new hearing aids. This is a rehabilitative process, so it is common to need fine tuning as you try your new aids in the various listening environments most important to you. If you do happen to notice that perhaps you are not hearing the way you should, take careful and detailed notes on your experiences so your practitioner can respond to your specific needs. It is our promise to work diligently to make the necessary adjustment until you are completely satisfied.

8. Enjoy!

And that’s it! Now that your hearing aids have been fine tuned to your satisfaction, you can go about your life hearing those sounds you have been missing out on and enjoying those relationships that mean the most to you. We hope you will have years of enjoyment and that you feel to share your joy with others who are struggling with hearing loss.

Call 1 (888) 912-5566, and let’s get you hearing better!