Summary:

Welcome, whether you are coming from near or far! We've created this guide to take you step-by-step through the journey of your first visit to DigiCare. This comprehensive hearing test and evaluation is a critical first step and tool, helping us to identify your particular hearing profile and needs.

Learn About:

• Step 1: Gathering Information and Scheduling Your First Appointment
• Step 2: Arriving for Your First Appointment
• Step 3: What to Expect and the Preliminary Interview
• Step 4: The Comprehensive Hearing Test and Evaluation
• Step 5: Moving Forward

We are very happy that you’ve decided to come see us at one of our four Southern Colorado DigiCare offices. Convenient appointments are available and walk-ins are always welcome.

Everyone you speak to and meet at our offices looks forward to making your visit a positive learning experience

As always, you will be treated with dignity and respect as your DigiCare Auditory Rehabilitation Counsellor focuses on your individual needs and requests. Whether you are visiting us for a hearing exam, a hearing aid fitting or have questions and needs related to tinnitus, we are happy to help and take the time you need.

At DigiCare, our hearing tests are a family affair. It is important that a loved-one accompany you on your visit.

Your first appointment will be very educational; you will be able to discuss many aspects of hearing loss and the various treatment options. Having another person you trust accompany you can ease anxiety and make it a more comfortable experience for you. Additionally, the familiar voice of your loved-one may actually be used for hearing amplification demonstration and simulation purposes.

Step 1: Gathering Information and Scheduling Your Appointment

In most cases, the first contact you will make with our DigiCare office will be over the phone. We can promise that this experience will be polite, professional and friendly!

When you place a call to our office, the person who answers the phone will offer clear answers to your questions. Because hearing loss varies significantly between individuals, you can expect that some of your questions may not be able to be answered by the receptionist or office assistant.

Given the variability in hearing loss and technology options, questions about prices and models of hearing aids are extremely difficult to answer in a thorough and accurate manner over the telephone. In most cases, we are only able to give you precise answers after a personal consultation and a comprehensive hearing exam. In all cases, DigiCare hearing exams and consultations are always free.

When you decide to make an appointment at one of our DigiCare offices, please feel free to ask for driving directions if you are unsure of how to find the office (or click here for a map and directions). In addition to being open during regular business hours, we’d be more than happy to try to accommodate a special appointment time that fits into your schedule.

Step 2: Arriving for Your First Appointment

Look forward to a warm and friendly greeting by our DigiCare office staff. Even though you may feel a bit anxious about your appointment, we are certain that our office and staff will make you feel welcome. Our reception area is clean, organized and inviting with comfortable chairs. Each office has easy, close-in parking and is handicap accessible.

Our exceptional Counsellors and Technicians pride themselves in taking the time to get to know you as a person and in their meticulous attention to detail. Before you actually have your hearing test, there are a few steps you will need to go through with the help of our staff. These steps are necessary as they help us better understand your medical history and unique needs.

At your first visit, we ask that you complete a brief questionnaire about your hearing and related medical history. These forms are also designed to protect your privacy and inform you of your rights as a patient.

Educational materials (articles, videos, brochures) about hearing loss and treatment options are readily available in our reception area — as they are here on our website. Our library information is current and extensive with a wide-range of topics covered. Many of materials have been nationally and internationally published and were written by the founder of DigiCare — who himself has had a profound hearing loss since childhood.

Step 3: What to Expect During Your First Appointment – The Preliminary Interview

Your first visit to our office will be a combination of in-depth conversation with your DigiCare Auditory Rehabilitation Counsellor about your communication needs, along with objective medical-type tests that identify the extent of a possible hearing loss.

Together, you and your Counsellor will review your detailed medical case history in one of our testing rooms. Your Counsellor will ask you questions about your ears, hearing ability, current communication situation, any medications you take and any work or recreation-related noise to which you have been exposed.

Your Counsellor will provide information focusing on the underlying emotions, challenges and ramifications of adult hearing loss. You should feel free to express your thoughts about your hearing loss and communication without pressure or presumption.

Step 4: The Comprehensive Hearing Test and Evaluation

During your first visit, you will receive a thorough and detailed auditory assessment — a hearing test. There is never a charge for this exam.

Ear Inspection via Video Otoscopy

During the otoscopic portion of the hearing exam, you will be able to see your ear canal on a video monitor 

Have you ever seen the inside of your ears? If you are interested (and most people certainly are), here’s your chance. Prior to the auditory assessment, your Counsellor will do a thoroughly visual inspection of your ears, using an otoscope with an attached light. You will have the opportunity to see what we see. Most patients find the video otoscopoy very interesting and absolutely painless. During this exam, your Counsellor will be looking to spot anything unusual that might explain your hearing trouble, including signs of any medical conditions or wax build-up in your ears.

After inspecting the way your ears look, your DigiCare Counsellor will test how your ears work.

Pure-Tone Audiometry

The audiometry portion of the hearing exam includes listening for tones of various pitch and loudness

As part of the clinical protocol, your DigiCare Auditory Rehabilitation Counsellor will test your hearing in a sound treated area in order to gather an accurate and valid assessment. For this test, your DigiCare Counsellor will use a machine called an audiometer to play a series of tones through a set of comfortable headphones.

Hearing is about more than simply loud sounds and soft sounds. It also involves pitch or frequency. For example, consider the high-pitch trill of a metal whistle versus the low-pitch boom of a tuba. These tones vary in pitch (frequency, measured in hertz) as well as in loudness (intensity, measured in decibels).

During the test, your Counsellor will control the volume of a tone and reduce its loudness until you are no longer able to hear it. Next, the tone will get louder until you can hear it again. You will be asked to signal to your Counsellor, usually by raising your hand or a finger or simply indicating “yes”, every time you hear a tone. This routine will repeat several times, using a various-pitched tone each time. Both ears will be tested, each separately.

The results of your test will be graphically represented on what is called an audiogram. Your audiogram will show your hearing sensitivity for each ear at different frequencies and at the different intensities.

Bone Conductivity Test

The bone conductivity portion of the hearing exam bypasses the outer or middle ears, reaching the auditory nerve through vibration of the skull bones

This particular test measures how well your inner ear is working and is truly fascinating. To test the inner ear, which is made of bone, your Counsellor will place a special headband on the bone behind your ear. While you listen for the sounds — this time not through your ears, but rather through the bones in your head — you will signal with your hand or finger as you did before.

Tuning Fork Testing

During this portion of the hearing exam, a vibrating tuning fork will help determine if sound is heard equally loud in both ears

At DigiCare, our Counsellors are highly skilled in the art of tuning fork testing. A tuning fork is a metal, two-pronged device that when struck will vibrate at a set frequency, producing a specific tone. There are various tuning fork tests that help assess how well sound moves through the ear. In some tests, the tuning fork will be placed on your forehead or behind your ear; these tests are completely painless as well and your Counsellor will determine if tuning fork testing would be of benefit to your overall assessment.

Immediately following the comprehensive hearing exam, your Counsellor will review with you the battery of tests you’ve just completed in language that you understand. The explanation will include if you do or do not have a hearing loss, the type and degree of loss, and a summary of possible treatment options based on your testing results. Additionally, your Counsellor can provide information on the consequences of untreated hearing loss. You and your loved-one are encouraged to ask questions at any time.

Demonstration

Your DigiCare Counsellor may offer you a live demonstration of our digital hearing aids if appropriate for your hearing loss. This demonstration provides an accurate idea of what to expect from hearing aids.

DigiCare is a designated no pressure environment! You will never feel pressed to make an immediate decision or to buy. Be sure to freely ask any questions that will help you make an informed decision that you are comfortable with. If you decide not to pursue amplification at the end of the first appointment, we are happy to provide you with additional information for you to take home. You are welcome to take a copy of your testing results and your audiogram, if you wish to take them to your doctor or save them for your medical records.

Review of Hearing Aid Types, Models and Styles

Your DigiCare Counsellor will review in considerable detail the styles and features of modern hearing aids that are appropriate to your specific type and degree of hearing loss. Your Counsellor will review how hearing instruments can potentially benefit you in everyday listening situations that are important to you. Part of this review will include the advantages and disadvantages of each style and feature options in relation to your communication needs and lifestyle.

One or Two

Part of the discussion you may have with your DigiCare Counsellor will revolve around using one or two hearing aids. Generally speaking, if you have a hearing loss, research indicates that two hearing aids work better than only one. When you are fitted with two instruments it is called a binaural fitting. Your Counsellor will be able to review with you the advantages of a binaural fitting compared to a monaural (one ear only) fitting. In most instances, two ears are better than one and there is a significant amount of literature to substantiate that claim.  You can read more about this interesting topic in our Straight Answers from DigiCare section.

Financial Considerations

Our DigiCare staff will present to you clear and easy-to-understand pricing options as well as financing options, including our helpful and popular layaway option. Pricing varies by style and technology and according to your particular hearing amplification needs. Price differences will be explained to you clearly and thoroughly. If you decide to purchase hearing aids, our staff can help determine if you have insurance benefits that may reimburse you for part of the expense.

Step 5: Moving Forward

Ear Impressions

Mixing the specialty putty material to take ear impressions 

Should you decide to pursue hearing aids and depending on the type of hearing instrument that fits your needs, your DigiCare Counsellor may take a mold or cast of your ear. The mold-making procedure takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes and in few cases, may cause minimal discomfort.

The mold allows us to custom make any needed molded ear pieces and hearing aids at our Factory Direct location in Colorado City. We are absolutely unique in our ability to make these earmolds, refine and repair your hearing instruments on-site.

A small foam block is placed in the ear to act as a barrier for the impression material. After approximately 5 minutes, the putty will harden and will able to be gently extracted from the ear.  The impression will be used to make the final earmold on-site at our Factory Direct Lab. 
  

The DigiCare Counsellor who knows your particular needs and hearing profile will be communicating directly with the DigiCare Technician who will be custom building your hearing instrument.

Our special Factory Direct manufacturing process means that you receive your custom hearing aids in considerably less time and at a lower price. Our turn-around time is a matter of days rather than the weeks you’d find working with other hearing aid providers. We use the very best hearing technology available and pass our Factory Direct benefits onto you.

When you leave your appointment you should feel comfortable with DigiCare and your entire office experience. You should never feel rushed or hurried and you should always feel free to ask questions – even after you return home from your appointment.

Learn Even More:

• Once you've learned about the specifics of Your First Visit you may have an interest in learning more about Hearing Aids and our special E.A.R.S. Program.