Tinnitus Test
If you suspect you suffer from tinnitus then it is a good idea to have a tinnitus test to try and establish what is causing it. It is important to have a tinnitus test as tinnitus can be a symptom of another health problem. A test can help identify the cause and therefore the best course of treatment to follow.
Tinnitus is often caused by damage to the ears either by a physical injury such as an impact to the head or through long term exposure to extreme noise levels. Because of this the first step in a tinnitus test will be to have a physical examination by your doctor. Your doctor will check your ears for any sign of an injury.
Your tinnitus can be either objective or subjective. This basically means whether the sound can be heard by your doctor or not with a stethoscope. If your tinnitus is objective then your doctor will be able to diagnose this with the stethoscope. However most cases of tinnitus are subjective which means that only you will be able to hear it. This is a very important part of the tinnitus test as it determines what kind of treatment is required.
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Your tinnitus may be a sign of hearing loss so it is a standard part of the tinnitus test to test your hearing. This is most commonly performed with a tuning fork and also identifies which ear or whether both ears are affected.
The next stage of the tinnitus test is called an audiometry test. The purpose of this test is to find out how your perception of sounds differs to the actual sounds that you are hearing. This test is done using a machine called an audiometer that you are connected to via a pair of special headphones. Sounds are played through the headphones and you must indicate to the doctor when you hear sounds other than your tinnitus. This process is repeated across a whole frequency range of sounds that are played at different volumes. By determining which sounds you are able to hear the doctor is able to identify the pitch and volume of the sound in your ears and therefore the severity of your tinnitus.
It is possible that your tinnitus could be the result of a bone or muscle abnormality within the ear. If your doctor suspects this might be the case then then tinnitus test will also include bone and muscle abnormality tests.
A common cause of tinnitus is prescriptions drugs. Therefore a medical history needs to be taken as part of the tinnitus test to try and identify whether you are on any medication that could be causing your symptoms.
Most of these tests are used when subjective tinnitus has been diagnosed via the tuning fork series of tests. However for objective tinnitus the doctor carry out further medical tests such as blood and urine tests as it is more likely the tinnitus is the symptom of another health problem.