The ability to hear well allows you to communicate effectively. When problems with your ears develop, it can affect your entire life. It’s important to have a qualified health care professional check your hearing to determine the proper treatment for your individual needs. This is where our hearing and balance team at MU Health Care can help.

What to do if you have hearing loss

If you suspect you have hearing loss, the first step is to undergo a thorough hearing evaluation with a licensed audiologist (a provider, often with a doctorate level of education, who specializes in diagnosing, treating and preventing hearing loss and balance disorders) and a medical examination with a physician who specializes in hearing disorders.

Early treatment of hearing loss is especially important to help prevent auditory deprivation, which happens when individuals need hearing aids but do not use them. Without stimulation, the brain gradually loses some of its ability to process sound — a condition many describe as “I can hear, I just can't understand what people are saying.” Treating hearing loss early can help preserve this important function.

Hearing and balance services

We offer a broad range of services to assess hearing and balance disorders.

Diagnostic services

• Comprehensive audiology testing. These tests help determine your hearing and balance skills.
• Objective hearing assessments. These evaluations may include tests of middle ear and cochlear function to help understand how your auditory system is working.
• Auditory brainstem response (ABR). A noninvasive test used to measure brain activity in response to sound.

Hearing aid services

If your hearing evaluation indicates a hearing aid would benefit you, our audiologists will:

• Review hearing aid options and help you choose the right one
• Make ear impressions if needed
• Schedule a fitting appointment and provide follow-up support

At your hearing aid fitting, we’ll:

• Demonstrate how to use and care for your hearing aids
• Explain communication techniques to help you and your loved ones adjust
• Review what to expect during the adjustment period
• Ensure that caregivers, teachers or others supporting a child with hearing loss are equipped to help

Custom-made earplugs

Our team can create earplugs tailored to your needs:

• Hearing protection. These protect ears from excessive levels of noise with custom-made ear molds.
• Musician monitors. In-ear monitors and filters to preserve sound quality with protection for musicians.
• Swim molds. These molds prevent water from getting into the ears with custom-made earplugs.

Pediatric audiology

Our certified audiologists offer pediatric hearing services to our youngest patients and use age-appropriate and clinically proven techniques to diagnose and treat your child’s hearing loss and balance disorders. We offer pediatric hearing evaluations, special testing services such as newborn screenings, hearing aid services, cochlear implants, and bone anchored hearing prosthesis. Learn more about pediatric audiology services.

Ototoxicity monitoring

Certain medications can potentially damage your hearing. We offer monitoring to assess if and how your hearing may be affected so your physician can adjust your medications if needed.

Vestibular assessment

Vestibular disorders, an inner ear disorder that affects your balance, can be caused by an injury, illness or another condition. The most common include benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), Meniere’s disease and vestibular migraine. Our audiologists offer specialized testing and treatment options to treat vestibular disorders. Learn more.

• Rotary chair platform. A noninvasive, painless test that assesses the function of the balance system. Goggles are used to monitor eye movements in response to movements of the chair.
• Posturography. A measurement of the balance system including eyes, ears and the body's sense of where it is in space while using a harness and movable platform.
• Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP). A measurement of the vestibular system in response to sound. It is a non-invasive, painless procedure.
• Videonystagmography (VNG). A noninvasive, painless test that assesses vestibular (balance) functioning. Goggles are used to monitor eye movements in response to different stimulus conditions.

Auditory processing disorder (APD) evaluation and treatment

Individuals with auditory processing disorder (APD) struggle to make sense of what they hear, especially in noisy environments — even though their ears work normally.

APD is typically diagnosed during childhood, but can be diagnosed in adults as well. We typically evaluate patients aged five and older using a series of specialized listening tests in a quiet, sound-treated room. These tests may include:

• Hearing screenings to confirm normal hearing
• Clinical measures of auditory processing
• Tasks such as distinguishing tones, recalling word patterns, and understanding speech in noise

If diagnosed with APD, our audiologists may:

• Recommend therapy with a speech-language pathologist
• Tailor treatment based on specific auditory deficits
• Offer recommendations for support at home and in school

Hearing and balance team

Our staff includes state licensed, nationally certified audiologists who use a team approach, working together with our otolaryngologists (ear, nose and throat doctors) and primary care physicians.

We accept referrals from ENT doctors, primary care and specialty care physicians, other audiologists – and we welcome self-referred patients.