What to Expect

Initial Consultation and Hearing Test(s)

1. Using the information you have provided from the patient information sheet, your hearing professional will discus your hearing concerns with you, asking you for me details as needed.
2. Your hearing professional looks into your ears with a video-otoscope, a small camera which projects a video image of your external ear canal on a TV screen. The video-otoscope is no bigger than the hand held otoscope most doctors use to check your ears. You will be told what you are seeing and any implications it has concerning your hearing. (Livingston Hearing is one of the few hearing centers in the country to be equipped with video-otoscopes in all its locations.)
3. CONTINGENCY: If it is determined you have an infection or other condition requiring a physician’s attention, Livingston Hearing gives you a list of several doctors who are Ear, Nose and Throat specialists in the area, and may even assist you in making an appointment with one of them.
4. You are shown into a large, well-lit sound-proof room for your hearing test. Each room has a window into the control booth where you can see your professional and speak to them via a microphone.
5. The hearing care professional fits you with soft expandable disposable ear plugs that insure the most accurate readings of your hearing. (Headsets are not as accurate.)
6. Your hearing professional takes you through a series of hearing tests:
   • Examples:
     • Warbletones - Put up a finger when you hear something
     • Repeat what word you hear
     • Repeat sentences heard through background noise
     • These various hearing tests pinpoint problems: in which ear(s) and to what extent, what frequencies, what volumes, what level of background noise interferes with your understanding, etc.
     • Puretone Testing - Press a response button when tone is heard
     • Speech Testing - Repeat the word heard at different presentation levels
     • Quick-SIN - Repeat sentences heard with background noise present

Hearing Test Interpretation, Consultation to Find the "Best" Hearing Aids for You

1. The hearing care professional goes over your test results with you. Your hearing loss will be explained.
2. Using your test results and your preliminary information, you and your hearing care professional determine the “best” hearing aid for your individual lifestyle and specific hearing problems.
   • It is the job of Livingston Hearing to help you to achieve better hearing.
   • It is your job to know what you can afford.
3. Livingston Hearing informs you of all costs.
   • Our insurance department informs you what is covered by your insurance and what is not.
   • We accept all major credit cards.
   • We will work with you to create a payment plan if needed.

Receiving a Hearing Aid: Fitting and Programming

1. Each Livingston Hearing location has an on-site laboratory.
   • If needed, you will have ear molds made of each of your ears. This is a simple and painless process where liquid is injected into your ear. This congeals as it cools to form a mold of your inner ear.
2. Many Livingston Hearing centers stock a large variety of brands and models of the most up-to-date hearing technologies. Depending on the type of hearing aids you purchase, our licensed dispensers may assemble your unique instrument on-site while you watch through a window.
3. Hearing aids should be called hearing computers in today’s high tech world. Your hearing professional “programs” your hearing aid on a computer through LIVE SPEECH MAPPING.
   • With your hearing aids on, the hearing professional will ask you questions about what you are hearing and program your aids to know what sounds to maximize, what sounds to minimize, and the limit of volume that is comfortable to you. Once programmed, your hearing aid will make many adjustments automatically for you.