Audiology services in cumming, GA

Here Audiology HEARS, we are committed to delivering an outstanding range of hearing healthcare services. We pride ourselves on our ethical and humane care, combined with years of experience in providing excellent customer service.

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Diagnostic Audiologic Evaluation

We offer comprehensive diagnostic audiological evaluations to determine your current hearing abilities and whether you could benefit from treatment. Here’s what to expect:

We offer a range of tests, including these common ones:

A pure tone test to see how well you get to hear different sound pitches.
A speech test in which you have to repeat words and phrases that we play to you to see how well you understand conversation in noisy environments.

The results from your hearing tests will be recorded on an audiogram. This is a visual interpretation of your hearing ability. After the completion of the evaluation, we will review your results with you. If a hearing loss is detected, we will work with you to determine the best solutions available for your hearing needs.

Adult Man Getting A Hearing Test At Audiology Center. Audiometry, Hearing Check Up

Evaluation For Hearing Aids

Following your audiological evaluation, you may find that you could benefit from hearing aids. One of the main services we provide is to help you navigate the array of aids that are currently available. Hearing technology is advancing quickly, and we remain up-to-date on the latest features and aids on the market. Most hearing aids today are digital devices composed of three major parts: microphone, amplifier, and receiver. The different types of hearing aids have to do with the placement, size, and capability of these basic components. Although the effect is similar, each individual will prefer a different hearing aid based on personal needs and preferences.

During this hearing aid evaluation, we guide you through all the available options and find the right hearing aid for you. While some people want hearing aids to assist in conversation, others need them for work or leisure activities. With your personal audiogram and consultation completed, we can evaluate which kind of hearing ad will be best suited to your needs.

what to expect at a hearing test

Hearing Aid Dispensing And Fitting

After your hearing aids have been selected, we will customize them to suit your hearing needs. This is the hearing aid “fitting” process. The physical part of the fitting ensures that your devices are comfortable and fit properly. We also “fit” the hearing aids by fine-tuning them to ensure that they meet your specific hearing needs. We'll explain how to operate your new hearing aid at this stage too. We clarify how the device can best be inserted and removed, cleaned, and maintained.

This appointment is a significant stage in the process and usually will take at least one hour. You should reserve sufficient time for the best hearing experience and fit. It might also be worth bringing a family member into the hearing aid to help you remember all the additional information that we'll give you.

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Live Speech Mapping

To ensure that your hearing aids meet your specific hearing needs, live speech mapping is a gold standard in audiology. Live speech mapping is a form of Real Ear Measurement that allows us to measure how well your hearing aids perform in real environments in real-time. Since hearing aid fittings typically happen in quiet offices, live speech mapping is the most accurate way to program hearing aids, giving you a realistic visual of how hearing aids truly make a difference in hearing.

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Hearing Aid Repair And Maintenance

Even with routine care, any hearing aid will gradually wear out. If that happens to you, then do not despair! We can repair these for you. Any minor repairs to hearing aids in our office may be completed quickly, depending on what is wrong. Others would have to be sent to the manufacturer for repair.

Some common repairs to a hearing aid include repairing or replacing:

A damaged hook to the ear
A broken microphone
Connected tubing which is clogged up
A broken battery compartment

The cost of repairing a broken or damaged hearing aid depends on a few things: Hearing aid insurance, device failure, and replacement parts costs. If your hearing aid has been purchased from us and is still under warranty, it's not likely to cost much at all. Contact us today to see how we can revive your hearing aid!

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Hearing Protection

It might surprise you to learn how low the threshold for damaging sound is. Recommendations from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) suggest exposure to 85 decibels of sound for no more than 8 hours per day. For this reason, we offer custom earplugs and hunter plugs from manufacturers such as Starkey and Westone.

LACE

Listening and Communication Enhancement (LACE) is an interactive computer-based program designed to improve hearing and speech comprehension for people with hearing loss. Created by audiologists at the University of California San Francisco, LACE is an auditory training program that retrains the brain to better understand speech in tough listening environments.

LACE is an adaptive and interactive web-based program that consists of multiple exercises that increase or decrease in difficulty depending on your performance. The four types of exercises are:

Speech in Noise: these exercises involve listening to a person speak while there is background noise. The background noise will get increasingly louder, making it more challenging to hear.
Competing Speaker: this category of exercises features two people speaking at the same time. You are instructed to only listen to one and the exercise evaluates your comprehension after each sentence.
Rapid Speech: these exercises involve someone speaking rapidly and evaluating how much of what was said you understood.
Target Word: working on focus, these exercises ask you to identify specific words before or after they’ve been said.

If you successfully complete exercises, the difficulty level is increased so that your listening skills continue to be progressively challenged. When you’re struggling through the exercises, the difficulty level eases up so you can continue to make progress.

Research shows that LACE contributes to significant improvements in speech comprehension. This includes a study that involved 65 participants with an average of 63, most of whom wore hearing aids. After just one month of engaging with LACE, researchers found that:

87% of participants showed improvement in speech in noise comprehension
88% showed improvement in rapid speech comprehension
84% showed improvement in competing speaker exercises
80% improved on target word exercises

Additional studies also suggest that these improvements are long-lasting. Studies have shown that participants have retained these improved skills 6 months after participating in LACE.

This highlights that LACE is an effective way to enhance hearing and comprehension skills. This program is a great addition to hearing aids and assistive listening devices which are all designed to support and maximize hearing capacity.

CaptionCall

CaptionCall is both a telephone and service for people who experience hearing challenges. If you have hearing loss, having conversations over the phone can be difficult. CaptionCall is designed to ease communication on the phone by providing real-time transcription of audio. This provides you with access to text while the person on the phone is speaking to you.

Similar to closed captions on a television, CaptionCall uses innovative technology and a communications assistant to provide written captions of what people are saying on the phone. This text appears on a large screen, designed to be easy to read. The phone itself works like a regular telephone, you simply have to answer or dial out. There are various features that enhance communication and usability. This includes:

Adjustable text: the text that appears on the screen is large so that it is easy to read. The size of the text can be adjusted to meet your visual needs.
Touch screen: the 7-inch screen offers touch features. Making calls and performing other functions can happen with a simple touch of a button on the screen.
Customize volume settings: the ringer and audio can be easily adjusted. Volume settings can also be saved so that volume on every call is optimal.
Save conversation: you are able to save the transcript of any conversation which allows you to review it later. This is especially helpful if detailed information is shared over the phone.
Visual ringer: rather than ringing, the CaptionCall phone screen can flash when there is an incoming call. This can be helpful for people who struggle to hear specific sounds like a phone ringing.
Hearing aid compatibility: there is a telecoil feature that allows hearing aids to connect to the CaptionCall telephone, allowing the hearing aid device to receive audio directly.

The CaptionCall telephone is a great option for people who regularly have conversations on the phone. It is also another useful tool to have to support your hearing.

Better Hearing IS Better Living!

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