Fredrika McDonald M.A, CCC-A received her Masters Degree from the University of Buffalo and is a member of The American Speech and Hearing Association and the American Academy of Audiology. Fredrika “Rika” has over 23 years of experience working with people and their hearing concerns. She had spent many years working in other physician’s offices before joining Dr. Liu. She teaches audiology students at Montclair State Universtiy Dept. of Audiology.
The office offers full audiology services including hearing tests and hearing aid dispensing. Hearing loss can occur from a variety of causes including infection, general aging process, hereditary, medication induced, and many other medical conditions. Reasons to perform a hearing test include not only hearing loss but ear fullness/pressure, noises (ringing, beating, ticking) and dizziness. A final diagnosis is made by combining all fo the information from your history, exam, and all of the various pars of a hearing test.
A comprehensive hearing test typically takes 30 minutes to complete and includes the following:
1. Pure tone audiometry. This is what most people think of when they think of a hearing test – sitting in a booth and responding to yes or no when they hear a tone. The full test we perform is more involved to be able to differentiate between the two major types of hearing loss – conductive hearing loss and sensorineural hearing loss. It is important to measure both air conduction how we normally hear through air or headphones) and bone conduction (tested by placing a vibrating piece behind the ear and directly vibrating skull).
2. Tympanometry – measures the air pressure system of the ear (eustachian tube function). Sometimes helpful to make definitive diagnosis if there is fluid behind the eardrum.
3. Acoustic Reflux. There is a uscle that connects to the bones behind the eardrum that reacts to sounds much in the way that we have a knee jerk reflex.
4. Otoacoustic emissions testing (OAE). This does not require any patient responses and is completely objective. The cells of the inner ear (cochlea) actually make their own sounds in response to external noises. We now have the technology to measure these sounds. OAE is very sensitive but not necessarily specific.
The goal of hearing aids is to restore quality of life by bringing hearing back to its highest potential. Unfortunately it is not as simple as ordering a product from an internet store. he process includes:
Today’s hearing instruments are tiny computers that vary greatly in their capabilities to manage the world of sound. As in all aspects of lie, digital technology has revolutionized hearing aids. In general, the more sophisticated the technology the less compromise there is in finding the most comfortable and appropriate hearing solution. The result of his is often but not always a more satisfied user. The price of hearing instruments in not dependent on the size or how it looks. The price is directly related to the technology level of the computer chip and the software that is uses. It is the software which allows the audiologist to fine tune the aid and make adjustments to the hearing instrument. Hearing instruments should last five years or more and can be adjusted along the way as the hearing changes.
Hearing has a subjective quality. The exact same hearing aid fitted for 10 patients with the identical hearing tests may “sound and feel” different to each user. The is the reason why follow up and adjustments are an integral part of the whole process. The more advanced software designs allow the audiologist to fine tune the hearing aids more than ever before.
Our Certified Audiologists are very helpful in helping you choose which product and model will best work for your life style and budget.
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