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Diagnostic Testing
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.
The Hearing and Balance Center offers 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
- Otoacoustic emissions
- Brainstem response audiometry
- Electrocochleography
- Central auditory processing evaluations
- Sound field audiometry
- Tinnitus pitch and intensity matching
The Center also provides 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)
- Optokinetic (movement of the eyes) testing
- 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
The Center also offers telemedicine consultations-an advanced, unique service that integrates 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
Watch this video for a better understanding of what patients can expect when going to the Hearing and Balance Center.
In 2011, Our Lady of the Lake was named a U.S. News and World Report's Best Hospital, specifically in the Ear, Nose and Throat specialty.
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