Service - Hearingaid

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Kowloon Hearing Services Ltd is devoted to serving hearing impaired people from different sectors and age groups through presenting a series of superior services, namely clinical evaluation, diagnosis and hearing aids fittings. We will always be here for you to overcome the obstacles you encounter during the recovery of your hearing capability so as to help you with the pursuit of a better auditory performance. Specifically speaking, our services include—
• All kinds of clinical diagnostic hearing tests
• All kinds of hearing aids recommendation and fittings
• Ear impression taking
• All kinds of custom made ear moulds manufacturing
• Hearing aid post-fitting counseling
• Hearing aid check and repairs
• Hearing aid battery and accessories sales
• Assistive listening device recommendation

For the sake of your health and comfort of hearing, we are honored to put up FREE services as follows—
• Free hearing aid check and fine tuning services for lifetime
• Free temporary hearing aid loan service (applicable to BTE hearing aids only)
• Free consultation service over hearing related issues

We offer a great variety of clinical hearing tests for adults and children. With the accurate and detailed testing conducted by our experienced audiologist, we are able to provide you with professional fittings of hearing aids that are personalized and well directed against your hearing impairment. Our hearing tests mainly include—

Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA)

Purpose:	To define the nature and degree of hearing impairment according to the assessment of hearing level by means of detecting a wide range of sound frequency.
Procedure:	An audiometer generates pure tones of different frequencies which are then transmitted into the ear by air and bone conduction. The individual is asked to demonstrate a specific response, such as hand-raising or button pushing, to an acoustic stimulus. In this way, the hearing threshold, i.e. the softest sound the individual can hear, is obtained.
Applicable to:	Individuals from 5 years through adulthood

Impedance Audiometry (IA)

Purpose:	To evaluate the conditions of the tympanic membrane and middle ear system, and to diagnose middle ear diseases such as otitis media with effusion and eustachian tube dysfunction.
Procedure:	A probe tube is introduced into the ear canal. The amount of sound reflected by the tympanic membrane is measured by a probe in the ear canal as the pressure in the ear canal is varied. The value of hearing resistance is obtained and compared with standard data.
Applicable to:	Individuals from 4 months through adulthood

Otoacoustic Emissions Test (OAE)

Purpose:	To assess the condition of inner ear system, particularly the function of the outer hair cells in the cochlea, so as to locate the site of lesion.
Procedure:	Acoustic emissions generated by the outer hair cells in the cochlea are elicited by direct acoustic stimulation, and are recorded by a small microphone placed in the ear canal. Data collected will be analyzed by a computer program.
Applicable to:	Individuals from birth through adulthood

Real-Ear Measurement Test (REM)

Purpose:	To put individual differences into consideration and to give objective examination of the setting of the hearing aid for fine-tuning and accurate fittings.
Procedure:	A probe tube is introduced into the ear close to the tympanic membrane to test for the sound pressure in the ear canal before and after fitting the hearing aid. The difference between the two values is compared with the target data.
Applicable to:	Adults and cooperative children fitted with hearing aids

Aided Threshold Test (ATT)

Purpose:	To reflect the auditory performance with the hearing aid.
Procedure:	Sound is given out through a speaker. The aided threshold, i.e. the softest sound the individual can hear after fitting the hearing aid, is recorded and compared with target data.
Applicable to:	Adults and cooperative children fitted with hearing aids

Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA)

Purpose:	To detect early hearing loss in children, and to objectively assess the auditory system for those patients who are unable or unwilling to respond subjectively to routine audiometric tests.
Procedure:	The auditory system is stimulated by sound. In the meantime, the change in electrical responses in the system is measured for the examination of the functioning of auditory pathway.
Applicable to:	Individuals from infants through adulthood

Special Test Battery
1. Alternate Binaural Loudness Balance Test (ABLB)

Purpose:	To demonstrate the degree of recruitment, so as to help distinguish between cochlear and retro-cochlear disorders.
Procedure:	The level of the tone stays the same in the normal ear and is varied up or down in the impaired ear until the individual hears equal sound in terms of loudness. The two levels in dB hearing level where the balance has occurred are recorded.
Applicable to:	Individuals with unilateral hearing loss

2. Short Increment Sensitivity Index Test (SISI)

Purpose:	To test an individual’s ability to detect slight changes in the intensity of sound, hence to determine whether the individual is having cochlear pathology.
Procedure:	The individual is asked to detect a brief 1 dB increment at a 20 dB supra-threshold tone in various frequencies (preferably at 1000 Hz and 4000 Hz). Twenty increases are presented for identification. The number of correct identifications is multiplied by 5 to give the SISI score. A score higher than 70% indicates cochlear damage.
Applicable to:	Individuals in adulthood

3. Tone Decay Test (TDT)

Purpose:	To differentiate cochlear lesion from retro-cochlear lesion.
Procedure:	The individual is asked to raise one hand as long as a continuous tone is heard and lower it when the tone becomes inaudible. Whenever the individual lowers one hand before 60 seconds, the intensity is raised by 5 dB and the amount of tone decay from the initial threshold level in dB is determined.
Applicable to:	Individuals in adulthood

For enquires about and making an appointment of our services, please feel free to contact Kowloon Hearing Services Ltd. We will always endeavor to provide you with different kinds of necessary assistance.