Hearing and Balance Evaluations

This form of testing is typically used with very young children (6 months - 2.5 years). The child sits with a parent or caregiver in the test booth. A variety of sounds are presented. When the child turns towards the sound they are rewarded with a brief view of a toy and lights.

This form of testing is used with preschool aged children. The child sits at a table with a testing assistant. They are taught to do an activity (such as drop a peg in a bucket or place a peg on a pegboard) when they hear a tone.

This form of testing can be used with children once they reach school age. This testing is what most adults remember from hearing tests when they were children. The patient is instructed to raise their hand or push the button when they hear a tone.

This for of testing is used when the child is unable to participate in any of the above testing methods due to age or developmental delays. The child is asleep for this testing: natural sleep if under 6 months of age or with sedation if older. Electrodes are placed on the child's head to read neurologic responses to tones presented through earphones

Immittance  (Tympanometry and / or Acoustic Reflexes) Looks at the functioning of the middle ear

Otoacoustic Emissions Looks at the functioning of the inner ear

Speech Testing

Threshold: How softly can the patient hear speech
Recognition: How clearly can the patient hear speech

The best hearing aids go far beyond amplification to make lost sounds audible again.

The latest hearing aids connect to smartphones, TVs and more - providing audio streaming from countless devices. They also make hands-free calls possible. Rechargeable options make using a hearing aid even more hassle free.

Hearing aids are recommended for an individual with hearing loss to stimulate the auditory pathway and keep the nerve and brain tissue functioning allowing the patient to maintain access to sounds, music and speech/language.

Phonak SkyTM - Hearing aids for infants, toddlers, school-age children and teens, Phonak Sky enables children to build strong bonds by offering clear, rich sound and access to more words and conversations every day. These close relationships are essential for a child's social, emotional and cognitive development.

Receiver-the-Ear (RIC) hearing aids have a receiver that goes in the ear canal and a piece that goes behind the ear. These can be fit with custom c-shells or with a small open or vented domes for a non-custom fit. These have connectivity to android or iPhone technology and allow for streaming podcasts, music and phone calls and can be connected to computers for zoom meetings.

The benefits of cochlear implants are numerous and adults often immediately benefit. According to the FDA, Most patients report hearing loud, medium and soft sounds.

Hear all the little things in life from footsteps and the ringing of the telephone to the whistling of a tea kettle and the sound of rustling leaves.

Auditory-Verbal Therapy is a specialized type of therapy designed to teach a child to use the hearing provided by a hearing aid or a cochlear implant for understanding speech and learning to talk. The child is taught to develop hearing as an active sense so that listening becomes automatic and the child seeks out sounds in life. Hearing and active listening become an integral part of communication, recreating, socialization, education and work.

The philosophy of Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) is for deaf and hard of hearing children to grow up in a regular learning environment, enabling them to become independent, participating and contributing citizens in the mainstream society.

AVT is a parent-centered approach that encourages the use of naturalistic conversation and the use of spoken language to communicate.

AVT is an approach that emphasizes the use of residual hearing to help children learn to listen, process verbal language and to speak.

AVT maximizes the use of the child's aided residual hearing for the detection of sound.

AVT is based on teaching parents, during their child's individual therapy sessions to emphasize residual hearing and interact with their child using the auditory-verbal approach.

AVT encourages interaction and mainstreaming children from the beginning with normal-hearing peers.

Participation in playgroups, library hours, and attendance in community schools can provide children highly motivating natural language models.

AVT teaches the child to develop self monitoring skills.

The child learns to listen to his/her own voice as well as to others during natural conversations thereby promoting natural quality.

AVT follows a logical and critical set of guiding principles. The parent, therapist and child engage in play activities that teach the child to use his or her amplified residual hearing to learn auditory-verbal communication like children with normal hearing.

Bonebridge uses bone conduction, which means that instead of sending sound through the ear canal, it sends sound through the skull to the inner ear. This makes it an ideal hearing solution for patients with conductive hearing loss, mixed hearing loss and single-sided deafness.

Do you (or a loved one) experience ringing in your ears that no one else can hear? If so, you are not alone. You have tinnitus, an audiological and neurological condition experienced by nearly 50 million Americans.

Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no actual external noise is present. While it is commonly referred to as "ringing in the ears," tinnitus can manifest many different perceptions of sound, including buzzing, hissing, whistling, swooshing and clicking. In some rare cases tinnitus patients report hearing music. Tinnitus can be both an acute (temporary) condition or a chronic (ongoing) health malady.

Millions of Americans experience tinnitus, often to a debilitating degree, making it one of the most common health conditions in the country. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that nearly 15% of the general public--over 50 million Americans--experience some form of tinnitus. Roughly 20 million people struggle with burdensome chronic tinnitus, while 2 million have extreme and debilitating cases.

Tinnitus can be managed with hearing aids when accompanied by hearing loss; hearing aids can reduce the loudness of the tinnitus and allow individuals to focus on the conversation around them rather than the noise in their ear.