Hearing and Balance

Hearing and Balance Tests and Diagnosis

Although patients who suffer from hearing loss or tinnitus (ringing in the ears) can present a challenge to the medical profession, new technological and medical advances allow many patients to be successfully evaluated and treated.

Our health system can offer a broad array of diagnostic hearing tests, including:

• Audiograms for determining basic hearing ability and word recognition
• Middle ear analysis for evaluating the mechanical functioning of the eardrum and ossicles (bones within the middle ear)
• Specialized tests to identify abnormalities in the auditory pathway
• Brain stem response audiometry
• Central auditory processing evaluations
• Sound field audiometry
• Tinnitus pitch and intensity matching

We also provide a comprehensive evaluation of patients with dizziness, loss of balance and equilibrium disorders using a variety of up-to-date techniques, including:

• Computerized balance testing
• Electronystagmography (ENG)
• Rotational chair including off-axis otolith (structure in the inner ear) testing
• Infrared video oculography (method for recording eye movement and position) for videonystagmography (VNG) and positional testing
• Computerized dynamic posturography
• Vestibular autorotation testing
• Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials

We offer telemedicine consultations that integrate onsite testing and evaluation with real-time, offsite diagnostic interpretations and treatments for complex hearing and balance disorders. Special features of this evaluation include:

• Computerized digital storage and image review of endoscopy
• Radiology studies
• Vestibular oculography