Video Otoscopy

Video Otoscopy uses a tiny video camera that is small enough to look inside your ear. It then relays the picture directly onto our computer screen where we can examine it in more detail and even photograph it for future reference. Video Otoscopy is used to look for wax, to examine the condition of your ear drum and ear canal, and to check for any medical conditions that may need referring. And the nice thing about Video Otoscopy is that you get to see what we're looking at, so we can point out any features of interest and show you how your ear canal works.

Live Speech Mapping

Live Speech Mapping allows us to "see" the sound in your ear on our computer screen. This enables us to compare the sound you are getting to the sound you actually need, which will depend on the results of your hearing assessment. For example, your hearing assessment might show that you are missing some of the consonants like "t" and "s". With Live Speech Mapping we place a tiny tube into your ear canal that picks up the sound that's coming out of a hearing instrument and overlays it on screen onto your hearing assessment results and check it matches. If it doesn't, your hearing care professional can adjust the settings on your hearing instrument to fine tune the sound so it does match.

Live Speech Mapping is incredibly useful for ensuring that your hearing instruments are performing as they should whilst you are actually wearing them. Because the read-out is live, we can use all sorts of sound and check to see how they sound through the hearing instruments. For example, if you are having problems with background noise, we can play a recording of background noise to see on screen how the hearing instruments are handling it whilst you are wearing them. We can then fine-tune the hearing instruments to improve their performance for you.

Hearing Loss Simulator

Have you ever been in one of those conversations where one of you says your hearing's perfect and the other one's saying it's not? Or if you have a hearing loss, have you ever found that people are impatient with you because they don't understand the problems you're having with your hearing? Our Hearing Loss Simulator can help. It enables us to apply the results of you hearing assessment directly to a sound, such as a piece of music or a short conversation, and demonstrate to another person how you hear that sound. First they hear the music/conversation as normal, then they hear it with the hearing assessment results applied. We find it helps to foster a better understanding of the effects of hearing loss, which can lead to greater acceptance and a more support from other people.

Hearing Instrument Test Box

Sometimes a hearing instrument stops working properly – perhaps it seems to have lost power, perhaps the battery is draining quicker than it should do, or perhaps it’s sounding fuzzy. That’s when a test box can be useful. It allows us to run a series of tests on a hearing instrument and compares the results to the manufacturer’s specification sheet. If the results are different it can help pinpoint where the problem lies. A hearing instrument test box can also be helpful in comparing the sound of one hearing instrument to another.

UtraVac

Ears are hostile places for hearing instruments! They're hot (38ºC); moist and constantly producing wax. It's amazing that they perform as well as they do! However, from time to time wax, dead skin and moisture can get into the electronics and affect the sound quality and performance. Very often we can use our UltraVac to clean out the debris and moisture. It has two parts to it. One part is a Vacuum Chamber, which sucks out all the air from the chamber, drawing out any moisture with it. The other part is a Probe, which allows us to either blow debris and dust away or suck it up using a gentle vacuum. The UltraVac can often help us to sort a problem out in-house instead of having to send it away for repair.

Tympanometer

A tympanometer is used to measure how flexible your eardrum is. Some problems with the eardrum or middle ear can cause the eardrum to become more flexible or more rigid than normal. If, for example, you have fluid behind your eardrum (e.g. an ear infection or glue ear) or if your ossicular chain (i.e. hammer, anvil and stapes) is damaged, it will show up on the tympanometer. It's a helpful indication of whether we need to refer you to your GP.