Last week I visited a hearing care specialist who performed an audiogram which looked different from my usual ones. The top image is the new audiogram, while the bottom one is from a month ago and aligns better with my typical results.
Should I request a retake? I remember the headset wasn’t fully enclosing my ears; it was a different model which was placed on my ears.
Or am I overestimating the impact of the audiogram on the hearing aid adjustments/gains?
Probably less impact than you think, but the recent one isn’t great.
If you’ve got a real concern, mention the difference to whoever is fitting you and ask them to re-test you with inserts.
We don’t use headphones for exactly this reason.
I think a 10 db variance is normal- like you say, headphone fit, but there may also be tension in your eardrums (incomplete pressure differential), or fatigue. I have also seen audiologist errors. If the volume goes up very quickly there may a delay for the last volume scored for a frequency. Since the difference is both sides I would rather suspect some of these causes. If you have not noticed anything amiss yourself, I would not worry until the next assessment. Also, this kind of variation makes little difference on how your HAs are fit.
Also we should consider tinnitus. My tinnitus is only noticeable during hearing tests and causes slight variations since I sometimes cannot differentiate tinnitus and hearing test signals. Other than hearin tests I dont have much problem with tinnitus
What do you guys do use if not a headphone?
Inserts with either Radio Ear or Etymotic drivers. Way more accurate and reproducible results, plus better in background noise and more effective for masking separation too.
