{"id":752818,"date":"2025-07-21T17:48:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T17:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/?p=752818"},"modified":"2025-07-21T17:48:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T17:48:01","slug":"comprehensive-hearing-assessments-urged-over-retail-screenings-experts-warn-incomplete-testing-can-delay-proper-hearing-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/comprehensive-hearing-assessments-urged-over-retail-screenings-experts-warn-incomplete-testing-can-delay-proper-hearing-health-care_752818.html","title":{"rendered":"Comprehensive Hearing Assessments Urged Over Retail Screenings: Experts Warn Incomplete Testing Can Delay Proper Hearing Health Care"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Forestville, NSW &#8211;<\/strong> As hearing loss continues to affect millions of Australians, one local audiologist is warning that the widely advertised &ldquo;free hearing tests&rdquo; offered in retail settings and shopping centres may not be doing enough to properly assess hearing health or prepare patients for hearing aid fittings.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dr. Signe Steers, Doctor of Audiology and founder of The Audiology Place in Forestville, says consumers are being short-changed by quick hearing screenings offered by retail hearing aid chains&mdash;tests that are often limited in scope, accuracy, and usefulness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">By contrast, a comprehensive hearing assessment, conducted in a soundproof environment by an independent audiologist, can uncover a full range of hearing and auditory processing issues.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It includes:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">-High-frequency testing (necessary for early-stage hearing loss)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">-Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) to assess inner ear function<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">-Speech-in-noise assessments that mimic real-world hearing challenges<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">-Middle ear function testing (tympanometry)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">-Cognitive and auditory processing screening, where appropriate<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">-Tinnitus evaluation and management strategies<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">-Review of contributing issues, such as TMJ dysfunction or misophonia<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">These evaluations typically take 60 to 90 minutes and are customised to each patient&rsquo;s symptoms, lifestyle, and medical background.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&ldquo;You cannot and should not fit a hearing aid based on a 10-minute screening,&rdquo; says Dr. Steers. &ldquo;A proper fitting requires a precise understanding of the patient&rsquo;s hearing thresholds across a full frequency range, speech understanding ability, and real-ear measurements. Anything less is guesswork&mdash;and it risks delivering a poor experience with hearing aids.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theaudiologyplace.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Audiology Place <\/a>also stresses that independent audiology clinics, unlike most retail hearing aid stores, are not owned by hearing aid manufacturers. This independence means patients are offered a full range of devices from all major brands, selected based on their individual needs, not corporate contracts.<\/p>\n<p><span style='font-size:18px !important;'>Media Contact<\/span><br \/><strong>Company Name:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/companyname\/theaudiologyplace.com.au_162731.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Audiology Place<\/a><br \/><strong>Contact Person:<\/strong> Robert<br \/><strong>Email:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/email_contact_us.php?pr=comprehensive-hearing-assessments-urged-over-retail-screenings-experts-warn-incomplete-testing-can-delay-proper-hearing-health-care\" rel=\"nofollow\">Send Email<\/a><br \/><strong>Phone:<\/strong> 02 93158327<br \/><strong>City:<\/strong> Sydney<br \/><strong>Country:<\/strong> Australia<br \/><strong>Website:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theaudiologyplace.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/www.theaudiologyplace.com.au\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/press_stat.php?pr=comprehensive-hearing-assessments-urged-over-retail-screenings-experts-warn-incomplete-testing-can-delay-proper-hearing-health-care\" alt=\"\" width=\"1px\" height=\"1px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Forestville, NSW &#8211; As hearing loss continues to affect millions of Australians, one local audiologist is warning that the widely advertised &ldquo;free hearing tests&rdquo; offered in retail settings and shopping centres may not be doing enough to properly assess hearing &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/comprehensive-hearing-assessments-urged-over-retail-screenings-experts-warn-incomplete-testing-can-delay-proper-hearing-health-care_752818.html\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[450,401,417,423,411],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-752818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Australia","category-Business","category-Marketing-Sales","category-Professional-Services","category-Technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abnewswire.com\/pressreleases\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}