Audiology

Start Your Journey to Better Hearing

Millions of Americans, from birth to seniors, have some level of hearing loss. Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital helps individuals understand and adapt to their hearing loss, improving their overall health.

The Hearing Center at Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital provides comprehensive hearing health care for patients of all ages across the Capital Region. Our audiologists work with other health care professionals to provide a warm, encouraging environment for rehabilitation and use a multidisciplinary team approach for quality care.

Our experienced and expert team continually adapts to the needs of our patients to provide high-quality care and enhance our patients' quality of life through effective treatments.

Sunnyview Hearing Center

Audiology: What is it?

Audiology focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss and related conditions. There is a spectrum of hearing loss: mild, moderate, severe, or profound. “Hard of Hearing” often refers to individuals with mild or moderate hearing loss.

Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital’s expert audiologists provide assessments and evaluations; prescribe, fit, and sell hearing aids; provide newborn screenings; and consult for communications needs, including speech reading and assistive technology.

What Causes Hearing Loss?

Hearing loss can be caused by genetic, environmental, or other factors including:

Genetics
Perinatal morbidities including: birth asphyxia, low birth weight, and hyperbilirubinemia (server jaundice)
Chronic ear infections
Collection of fluid in the ear
Infections such as meningitis
Chronic disease
Smoking
Trauma to the head or ear
Exposure to loud noises
Exposure to certain chemicals
Nutritional deficiencies
Age-related sensorineural degeneration

Hearing Evaluations: What to Expect

Sunnyview’s audiologists assess patients from newborns to seniors. Our team has specialized experience with pediatric and special-needs populations. Diagnostic services include:

Auditory Brainstem Response Evaluation (ABR)
Central Auditory Processing (CAP) screening
Electrophysiological tests
Hearing aid evaluations and fitting
Middle ear analysis
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) Evaluation
Non-sedated ABR Evaluation
Otoacoustic Emissions Evaluations (OAE)
Pure tone testing
Speech audiometry
Sound field testing
Tinnitus evaluations
Universal hearing screenings for all newborns prior to discharge
Videonystagmography/Electronystagmography (VNG/ENG)

Treatment and Support

Rehabilitation Services including: tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT), FM system evaluation and calibration, assistive listening device evaluation, musicians' plugs - custom earpieces for cell phones or other devices, custom ear protection and swim plugs
Hearing Access is a hospital-wide program that helps to support communication access for patients with hearing impairment. Patients can access assistive devices, including personal amplifiers if needed. Access to TTYs can be provided to profoundly deaf patients upon request. Consultation with audiology staff is encouraged in challenging communication situations for patients and staff.
The Hearing Aid and Rehabilitation Program is a comprehensive hearing health care service, including evaluation, fitting of hearing aids, and follow-up.
Universal Hearing Screening Program ensures screening for hearing of all newborns before discharge with an appropriate follow-up program provided.
Community Hearing Screenings: our audiology staff works with community groups, usually coordinated through the Corporate Communications office, to provide hearing screenings as a prevention and referral benefit to our Capital Region community.
Staff audiologists provide mentoring and educational opportunities that offer a variety of information to patients, parents, and professionals, including certified supervision at a graduate education level.

Next Steps

Routine evaluations can detect hearing problems earlier, allowing for earlier treatment. If you notice any changes in your hearing such as: