Banaras Speech & Hearing Centre

About Us

Banaras Speech & Hearing Centre is the premier and most competent centre for total hearing and balance management in Varanasi. We have a reputation for helping diagnose and manage hearing loss, speech disorders and balance services offered at this centre remain unmatched.
HEARING TESTS

Hearing tests can be broadly defined as subjective and objective. In subjective tests the patient is required to give responses regarding the hearing.

Objective tests are those in which we can obtain responses by electrophysiology, or other such techniques.

a) Pure tone audiometry: This test aims at recording hearing threshold of a person by administering beep/ warble tones at various frequencies and intensities


b) Behaviour Audiometry: Based on the child's age various conditioned games can be played to obtain an effectively useful estimate of the child's hearing loss.

Based on your hearing tests, you may be a suitable candidate for a surgery or a hearing amplification device.

ABOUT HEARING AIDS

Q) What is a hearing aid?
A) A hearing aid is a battery operated device to make sound louder. Hearing aids are available in different shapes and sizes and can be put either in, or around ones ear. They can be digital or analogue. The type of hearing aid offered depends on ones hearing loss and individual comfort.

Q) How does a hearing aid work?
A) Hearing aids have a built in Microphone that picks up sound. This is then electronically processed and amplified by digital technology or analogue circuits. These signals are then passed on to a receiver in the hearing aid where it is converted back to audible sound which you can hear.

Q) Would I achieve perfect hearing with my hearing aid?
A) No. Hearing aids can never promise perfect hearing but they definitely make sounds louder to make conversation easier and may help listening on the telephone and television. This facets help build up the confidence of the hearing aid user but won't necessarily make sounds perfectly clear. Important thing here is to note that it takes time to get used to a hearing aid. After acquiring a hearing aid one would need to build up the amount of use of the instrument in order to get used to new sounds and the feeling of wearing ones hearing aid.

Q) Will my hearing deteriorate on using a hearing aid?
A) No. If you use your hearing aid a lot, it will not make your hearing worse. In fact, if you have hissing or buzzing noise in your ear (tinnitus), you may hear it less when using a hearing aid.

Q) How long do hearing aids last?
A) Hearing aids last on average about 5 years, though it really depends on the care and maintenance of the instrument. After that, a newer hearing aid can be fitted to the patient.

Q) What does analogue and digital mean?
A) Hearing aids may have different technologies to process sound, which may be analogue or digital. Digital aids are the newest kind of hearing aids and are increasing in popularity in India. They have a tiny computer chip within them which makes possible to listen to sound comfortably irrespective of the pattern of your hearing loss. Most digital hearing aids can be programmed with different settings for different sound environments. Some adjust them automatically.