what do doctors use to look in ears

Ears are responsible for your sense of hearing and your sense of residue. You hear sounds considering your ears pick upwardly sound waves and transform them into electrical signals which travel forth nerves to your brain. Your encephalon and so "decodes" and interprets the signals. The organ of balance (the vestibular system) in the inner ear also sends signals to the brain, which perceives and interprets every movement and change in position.

Doctors differentiate between 2 chief categories of hearing bug: those affecting sound wave transmission and those affecting audio perception. Common reasons for having an ear exam include hearing bug and earache. These can exist caused past centre ear infections, inflammation of the outer ear culvert (otitis externa), jaw bug or cervical spine problems..

Outer ear, center ear, inner ear

When are ear examinations recommended?

It'southward a good idea to have your ears tested if you have sudden or gradual hearing loss, ringing in your ears (tinnitus), earache, dizziness or if your doctor thinks yous might have a middle ear infection. Too, if a fluid comes out of your ear or if you lot accept injured your lower jaw. This is because lower jaw injuries tin can also damage the ear and ear canal.

How tin can you lot prepare for an ear examination?

At that place is no need to set for an ear examination. Simply the ear canal (auditory canal) and eardrum are quite sensitive, so it is important to hold your head nevertheless during the examination in order to avert pain. If the dr. touches the back wall of your ear canal with an instrument, it might brand you want to cough.

What happens during the exam?

Before examining your ear, your md will ask you a few questions, such as whether you take earache, ringing in your ears, dizziness or bug hearing. Data about previous ear problems or whatsoever hearing problems in your family unit could exist important too. After talking with yous about these things, the doc volition usually start look within your ear using an instrument called an otoscope. This may be followed by other kinds of examinations or tests if necessary.

Your hearing can exist tested in dissimilar means. Doctors typically utilize a combination of different methods. In that location are subjective hearing tests, which depend on patients' own reports of what they can hear. These include whispered and spoken voice tests, tuning fork tests and audiometry tests. And in that location are objective hearing tests, which don't depend on patients' reports of what they can hear. Instead, their hearing is measured using special devices. Examples of these tests include tympanometry, OAE tests and auditory brainstem response tests.

Otoscopy and view of the eardrum

Otoscopy

In this examination, the physician looks into the ear using an instrument chosen an otoscope. The otoscope consists of a handle and a cone-shaped zipper called an ear speculum, which contains a tiny lamp and is inserted into the ear canal. To brand information technology easier to insert the otoscope into the ear, the doctor straightens out the ear culvert by gently pulling the ear upward and backward. Earwax or dirt can be removed during the examination. The eardrum is usually a shiny grey color and smooth. If it's red, injured, scarred or has a bulge in it, you might accept an ear infection or some other kind of ear condition.

Whispered and spoken vocalism examination

In this exam, the md speaks a combination of letters and numbers while standing six meters from the patient, whispering at showtime and then talking at normal book. If the patient doesn't understand what was said, the doctor moves closer. This is done separately for each ear. The doctor will cover their mouth while doing this test to preclude any lip reading.

Tuning fork exam

In tuning fork tests, the doctor get-go holds a vibrating tuning fork at the entrance to your ear canal and and so places it against your head. This tests how well audio is conducted through the air and through your skull basic. It provides information about the blazon of hearing problem: If you can only hear the tuning fork when it is placed confronting your caput, the root of the hearing problem lies in the ear canal or heart ear. If you lot can't hear the tuning fork in either of the 2 positions, you have what is known as sensorineural hearing loss. This means the root cause lies in the inner ear, the auditory (hearing) nerve, or the nerve cells in the brain.

Audiometry

In pure tone audiometry, headphones or loudspeakers are used to play tones at various frequencies (pitches) and increasing volumes. Equally soon equally you hear the tone, you give the person carrying out the test a sign.

In speech audiometry, you try to hear spoken syllables and numbers rather than tones. The number of words or numbers you lot heard at dissimilar volumes is then assessed. This examination is also used when adjusting hearing aids.

Tympanometry

Tympanometry measures how much the eardrum can motion (vibrate). If the eardrum hardly moves at all, it is a sign that fluid has built upwards in the tympanic cavity behind the eardrum. To carry out the exam, the doctor first inserts a "hurl" into your ear culvert in order to seal this part of your ear. Although this can sometimes exist unpleasant, it more often than not doesn't hurt. The instrument then changes the force per unit area in your ear (depression pressure and high pressure), and a tone is played. The tone's sound waves cause the eardrum to vibrate, which changes the pressure in the ear canal. This change in pressure is measured and recorded.

OAE tests

OAE (otoacoustic emission) tests are used to assess the performance of the inner ear, where the sensory cells are found. These sensory cells are also known as outer hair cells. Sounds reaching the inner ear cause the hair cells to vibrate, and equally a result the hair cells produce sound waves themselves. During OAE tests, soft clicking sounds are made. The sound waves produced by the hair cells are then picked up and measured using a special microphone. This procedure doesn't hurt and is also used for routine hearing tests in newborns.

Auditory brainstem response (ABR)

The auditory brainstem response (ABR) examination is a special kind of electroencephalogram (EEG) – it measures the electric activeness in the part of the brain that receives signals from the auditory (hearing) nervus. This test is too called "brainstem-evoked response audiometry (BERA)." The hair cells are stimulated by sending clicking sounds to the inner ear using headphones. The resulting electrical signals that are sent to the brain along the auditory (hearing) nerve are then measured. This examination is particularly useful for diagnosing hearing loss caused past damage to the auditory nervus.

Sources

• Lenarz T, Boenninghaus HG. Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde. Berlin: Springer; 2012.

• Mrowinski D, Scholz M, Steffens T. Audiometrie. Stuttgart: Thieme; 2017.

• Pschyrembel. Klinisches Wörterbuch. Berlin: De Gruyter; 2017.

• IQWiG wellness information is written with the aim of helping people sympathize the advantages and disadvantages of the main treatment options and wellness care services.

  Because IQWiG is a German institute, some of the information provided here is specific to the German language health care system. The suitability of any of the described options in an individual case can be adamant by talking to a doctor. Nosotros do not offering individual consultations.

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Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK390301/

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