![\"New](\"https:\/\/speechandhearingassoc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/free.png\")
Have you noticed how many hearing aid advertisements offer \u201cfree hearing tests?\u201d\u00a0 Most of these ads are from non-audiologist hearing aid dispensers<\/a>,\u00a0the kind of folks you see at the \u201cbig box\u201d stores and retail chains like Costco<\/a>.<\/p>\nWithout the foundation of a professional audiological evaluation, recommendations for the proper hearing aid for a specific patient can amount to \u201cguess work.\u201d\u00a0 Will some patients claim that the hearing aid \u201csounds great?\u201d\u00a0 Sure, but how much greater might it sound if properly fit, based on a solid assessment of the auditory system\u2026a professional audiological evaluation.<\/p>\n
The extent of training a non-audiologist dispenser amounts to a\u00a0home study course and 6 months of \u201ctraining\u201d with another hearing aid dispenser. In New Jersey, you don\u2019t even need a high school diploma to sell hearing aids<\/a>.<\/p>\n Contrast this with a Doctor of Audiology who spends 8 years of college (four years beyond the bachelor degree) and takes a national exam administered by the Educational Testing Service and obtains a New Jersey license before being allowed to practice.<\/p>\n Insurance companies<\/a> and Medicare will not reimburse non-audiologists for hearing tests.\u00a0 So the non-audiologist hearing aid dispenser either offers a \u201cfree hearing test\u201d to get customers in the door, or if you\u2019re already in the door, build the charge into the cost of the hearing aid.<\/p>\n The audiologist will measure speech discrimination in a background of noise and will determine levels of sound that are comfortable and uncomfortable, not only speech but narrow bands of noise.<\/p>\n The audiologist will compare these values to levels where their patient feels the sounds are \u201ctoo loud.\u201d\u00a0 Adjustments to output, specifications for noise limiting circuitry will be incorporated into the hearing aid, etc.<\/p>\n The audiologist may also identify problems with central auditory processing<\/a> that the non-audiologist cannot.\u00a0 A central auditory processing problem can significantly effect success with hearing aids and must be taken into account.<\/p>\n Without an exact, comprehensive, assessment of the auditory system, hearing aid recommendations from a non-audiologist can be futile.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New Jersey free hearing tests come with a price. Have you noticed how many hearing aid advertisements offer \u201cfree hearing tests?\u201d\u00a0 Most of these ads are from non-audiologist hearing aid dispensers,\u00a0the kind of folks you see at the \u201cbig box\u201d stores and retail chains like Costco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speechandhearingassoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speechandhearingassoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speechandhearingassoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speechandhearingassoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speechandhearingassoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/speechandhearingassoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speechandhearingassoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speechandhearingassoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speechandhearingassoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSpeech and Hearing Associates<\/a> holds a reputation as a leader in providing\u00a0comprehensive audiological evaluations as well as access to state-of-the-art hearing aids. Eighty percent of SHA’s referrals come from physicians, ENTs and satisfied patients. To make an appointment with one of our audiologists, contact us<\/a> at 800-742-7551 <\/a>.<\/p>\n