Audiology

The Audiology department at Summit Health works in conjunction with the Ear, Nose, and Throat department. Audiology offers comprehensive diagnostic testing to identify and manage hearing and balance disorders for individuals of all ages. Audiology also offers options for hearing improvements, such as hearing aids and assistive listening devices.

Contact your primary care provider or consult an audiologist to schedule an audiology appointment. Our goal is to identify the cause of your hearing symptoms and find ways to improve your communication.

  • Comprehensive audiologic evaluation
  • Otoacoustic emissions testing (test of outer hair cell function)
  • Tinnitus counseling
  • Cerumen management (ear wax removal)
  • Hearing conservation monitoring
  • Custom hearing protection
  • Custom musician earplugs
  • Hearing aid consultation, fitting, verification, programming, troubleshooting

Hearing loss can affect individuals of all ages and their families. Aging is one of the strongest contributors to hearing loss, but additional factors such as genetics, ear wax build-up, noise exposure, and overall health (history) contribute to the type and severity of your loss. Many times tinnitus (the perception of a sound i.e., ringing, buzzing, whooshing, in the absence of an external stimulus) can co-occur with hearing loss, but this is not always the case.

Our Audiology team can teach patients with hearing loss and their families about communication strategies and leading-edge hearing aid technology to manage difficult listening situations.

Common symptoms of hearing loss include:

  • Consistently turning up the volume of the television or radio
  • Hearing speech but not fully understanding what was said
  • Difficulty hearing in the presence of background noise
  • Avoiding or withdrawing from social situations

When to consult a provider:

  • If your hearing loss and/or tinnitus is affecting your life, and/or the lives of your loved ones.
  • If you experience sudden (complete or partial) loss of hearing. An event such as this warrants immediate medical attention.

Dizziness is another common reason patients may be referred to Audiology. Dizziness can be described as imbalance, lightheadedness, vertigo (the perception that you or your environment is moving), foggy-headedness, etc. Your brain, eyes, ears, heart and blood vessels, muscles, bones, and joints all contribute to your sense of balance. If any one of these is not functioning as it should, you can experience dizziness or imbalance. Many medical conditions and medications can cause dizziness or imbalance.

In the Audiology department at Summit Health, we assess your symptoms of dizziness and imbalance by performing a vestibular evaluation. During this evaluation, we seek to understand whether your dizziness or imbalance is originating from the balance organs within your inner ear. The results from this testing will help with the management of your dizziness or imbalance.

Services provided:

  • Dix-Hallpike testing and canalith repositioning maneuvers for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)
  • Functional balance testing
  • Head Impulse Testing (HIT)
  • Videonystagmography (VNG)
  • Caloric testing

Clinics

Old Mill District Clinic
Bend, Oregon