Our unique approach to
Hearing Healthcare
You deserve to hear life
Hearing loss often develops gradually. While some sounds may remain easy to hear, others like high pitched-speech sounds can be a struggle. The type and configuration of your hearing loss can cause hearing difficulties in different listening environments. In quiet, you may follow and understand most of the conversation. However, a noisy coffee shop may bring many challenges to enjoying time spent with friends and loved ones.
Hearing well has a positive impact on our social interactions with others, our sense of belonging, our activity levels, maintaining strong cognitive function, and on our overall health.
While the first step to getting a hearing aid can seem daunting, it need not be. Together, we can help you find the right solution for your lifestyle and your hearing needs and goals.
At your first visit we want to hear all about you. You may have already spoken with our Audiology Assistant and have a good understanding of what will happen at your first appointment. We will spend quality time getting to know you, your lifestyle, and your listening goals. We will also review with you any questionnaires we may have asked you to complete.
Hearing loss presents in many ways. Difficulties hearing soft sounds is just one presentation. Symptoms of hearing loss depend on the cause and type of hearing loss.
- Hearing but not understanding what others are saying
- Difficulty following conversations in groups or noisy places
- Needing information repeated
- Listening exhaustion after attending social events
- Turning the television up louder than others
- Avoiding social events
- Balance difficulties
- Tinnitus – noises in one or both ears
Following getting to know you, we will perform a thorough assessment of your hearing. This is non-invasive and should not cause any discomfort. Even if your hearing has been assessed elsewhere, we will complete our own comprehensive testing.
- Otoscopy
Your Audiologist will perform a visual examination of your ears. - Impedance Audiometry
Using a small hand-held machine this examines the health of your middle ear and the integrity of your auditory nerve. This only takes a couple of minutes for each ear but gives critical information in defining your hearing. - Audiometry
Using headphones gently placed over the ears, or small insert earphones, you will be required to indicate the softest sounds you can hear. This can be tiring and requires a high level of concentration. Sometimes a small metal headband (bone-conductor) will be placed behind your ears for further testing. - Understanding speech assessment
Your ability to understand speech at an appropriate level for your hearing will also be assessed. This provides valuable information for recommending what hearing solution may be best for you - Discussing your results in detail
We will discuss your results with you in detail, considering your lifestyle, hearing needs and goals. You will be encouraged to ask lots of questions to ensure your understanding. Sometimes the results from your hearing assessment may indicate that further testing is required and/or referral to an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist for medical opinion and management. The team at All Ears & Speech work closely with your General Practitioner and local ENT specialists to ensure the health of your hearing system. If further investigations are required we will discuss this with you.
Our unique approach embodies “lifelong hearing”. We are here to support you every step of the way as you rediscover all the sounds you have been missing.
Just like glasses, hearing devices take time to adjust and there is a period of acclimatisation. Your brain needs time to rediscover and become comfortable with sounds you may not have heard for some time. When you first start wearing your new device/s, everything may seem usually loud, and your voice may also sound louder and different. Give it time.
At your fitting appointment, we will work with you to ensure you are confident in managing your hearing device/s. Watching the television at home with captions can help to retrain your brain, along with sitting next to a family member or friend while they read aloud from a magazine or book while you are looking at the text.
Follow-up visits will be arranged with your audiologist and our audiology assistant regularly to ensure you are getting the very best from your device/s. Keep note of your hearing successes and areas you continue to have difficulties to share with us. You may also like to bring a family member or friend to your appointments so they can be involved in your experience and can practice with you following.
We are here to help.
Using the results of your hearing assessment, and information about your lifestyle, hearing needs and goals, we will recommend a hearing solution that is right for you.
Our aim is to find the most comfortable and discrete hearing device, without compromising on exceptional clarity, to keep you connected with friends and loved ones and engaged in all the activities you enjoy.
There are many styles of hearing aids available designed to fit varying types of hearing loss and lifestyles, including hearing aids that sit behind the ear, those that sit entirely inside the ear, and the 100% invisible.
Hearing aid accessories (Assistive Listening Devices) may also be recommended. This may be the primary solution to meet your hearing needs or may be in addition to hearing aids. Sometimes hearing aids alone are unable to meet all your listening goals, particularly in challenging noisy environments or over distance. These devices can be instrumental for people leading active lives where attendance at group events is important socially or in the work environment. You may require an extra boost while watching television, or when out walking/riding in a windy environment. No matter what your listening goals, we will work with you to find the right solution.
For some hearing losses, conventional hearing aids may not offer the best solution. The team at All Ears & Speech includes experienced audiology specialists in implantable hearing technology (i.e., cochlear implants and bone conduction hearing devices (Baha)). We are one of the few clinics in South Australia able to provide this comprehensive service.
Need additional help in challenging listening situations?
We're All Ears!
For those listening situations where even the most advanced hearing technology does not meet all your listening goals, assistive listening devices can provide the added boost needed over distance or in loud background noise.