Basic Adult Evaluation

You can serve your adult patient's needs most effectively by beginning with a careful history interview. You will also need to confirm your patient's identity by asking him/her to state their full name and date of birth.

'''Otoscopy, Immittance & OAEs '''

Otoscopy: The use of an otoscope to observe the status of the tympanic membrane and external ear. Please see video to the right for technique recommendations.

Immitance: Evaluates the status of the middle ear system for possible pathology. Results are categorized in the following way:


 * Type A: Normal volume, pressure, and compliance


 * Type As: Normal volume, pressure, and hypo-compliance


 * Type Ad: Normal volume, pressure, and hyper-compliance


 * Type B: Non-compliance with possible large volume


 * Type C: Abnormal negative pressure

Otoacoustic Emissions (OAEs): Objective measure of cochlear function. May be used on difficult to test patients or possible malingers to obtain ear specific information.

Speech and Pure-tone Audiometry

Speech Recognition Thresholds (SRT): The softest level that a patient can detect a spondee.

Word Recognition Scores (WRS): Percentage of monosyllabic words correctly repeated when presented at a comfortable listening level (often 40 dB HL above SRT).

Pure-tone Air Conduction Audiometry: Frequency-specific tones presented acoustically via inserts or headphones in order to obtain the patient’s hearing thresholds.

Pure-tone Bone Conduction Audiometry: Frequency-specific tones presented via bone conduction in order to bypass the external and middle ear systems and assess cochlear function.