Diagnosis of hearing loss

a female medical professional is seated in front of a special sound-proof booth with a glass window, controlling diagnostic test equipment. Inside the booth a middle-aged man can be seen wearing headphones and is looking straight ahead of himself, not at the audiologist, and appears to be concentrating on hearing something
An audiologist conducting an audiometric hearing test in a sound-proof testing booth

Identification of a hearing loss is usually conducted by a general practitioner medical doctor, otolaryngologist, certified and licensed audiologist, school or industrial audiometrist, or other audiometric technician. Diagnosis of the cause of a hearing loss is carried out by a specialist physician (audiovestibular physician) or otorhinolaryngologist.

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Difference between subjective and objective hearing test .

Subjective:

  1. Requires child / parents participation & co-operation
  2. Informal assessment
  3. Measure overall function ability
  4. Depends on behavioural techniques

Objective:

  1. Do not require patient's participation
  2. Formal test
  3. Defines a patient's hearing ability, how well the ear works
  4. Depends on an autonomic physiologic response