How to conduct a hearing screening (detailed)
Instructions on conducting a hearing screening with the audiometer
For simplified instructions on running a hearing screening in Waisman 544, see the simplified instructions KB doc instead.
1. Turn on the audiometer.
- It must be either plugged into the wall or powered by batteries.
- The headphones must also be plugged in
- Touch the 'Tone' button to turn on
- If using the audiometer's batteries for power (not the case in Waisman 544):
- Press both the 'F1' and 'F4' to get to the menu
- Scroll down to 'Power off' and set to 'Never' (to make sure audiometer does not turn off and delete your data later on)
2. Explain the procedure to the participant. Show them the headphones and response clicker and say:
"First, please check that your cell phone is silenced. For the hearing screening, go ahead and put the headphones securely over your ears. Red on the right, blue on the left. You will hear tones played through the headphones at different pitches and volumes.
Anytime you hear a tone, immediately press the button on the clicker. You do not need to wait until you hear the end of the tone to press the button. Instead, as soon as you hear a tone, immediately press the button on the clicker.
You will first hear sounds in your right ear, then your left ear. I will verbally let you know when the screening is complete - it should take about 5-10 minutes total.
Do you have any questions?"
3. Start the screening test. We are using an automated Hughson-Westlake test for our screenings. To start the test:
- Press on the frequency (Hz) wheel, and the options along the bottom of the display screen should change
- Press the 'F4' button which should be underneath the label 'HW' on the screen
- The screening should now begin. To watch the participant's progress:
- The dB and Hz of the stimulus being played for the participant are displayed in large numbers on the display screen
- The sound icon in the top left corner of the screen will show you when there is a sound being played
- When the participant responds to a sound with their clicker, a black bar will appear in the middle, top of the display screen
- If they don't appear to be performing the test correctly in the 'HW familiarization' phase, repeat the instructions or demonstrate the task again (i.e. if they are responding too slowly)
- When the test is complete, the screen will no longer say "HW Test", and you will be able to see that sounds are no longer being presented
4. Check the results of the screening
- Select 'F3' (labeled 'Thres') to check that the participant's hearing thresholds are normal (~25db and below at 250-4K Hz)
- If the participant is very close to passing the hearing screening:
"Thank you for completing our hearing screening. I would like to verify the results of the screening, so we are going to re-run part of the task. Please continue to respond to the sounds as you have been."
- Manually run a test on the frequency in question
- If the participant fails the hearing screening:
- For single-session behavioral studies: You do not need to inform them that they will be completing a different task than originally planned. Run hearingLossAAF instead of the planned study.
- For multi-session studies and imaging studies: Inform them of the results, and offer the option to participate in an alternative task. Run hearingLoss AAF instead of the planned study.
"Thank you for completing our hearing screening. Based on the results of this screening, you do not meet the eligibility criteria for this study. Because of this, we will not be continuing with the planned study. However, we do have an alternate study that you may participate in instead. This should take about 45 minutes, and you will be compensated with $15/hour. (For imaging studies, specify that this new task is a non-imaging study)."
- If they were originally scheduled for a multi-visit study, clarify that you will be cancelling the follow-up visit
- If they decline participating in an alternate study: "We do appreciate the time that you took to come to the Waisman Center today, so we will provide compensation for a full hour (or 30 minutes for imaging studies) of your time. (Provide payment instructions). You are now free to leave. Thank you for coming in today!"
- Continue to complete data transfer even if they failed the screen
- If the participant asks a question about their hearing screening result:
"I'm sorry, I am not a clinician, so cannot provide you with any diagnostic information about this hearing screening."
DO NOT TURN OFF THE AUDIOMETER (you will lose your threshold data if you do)
5. Transfer data to computer
- Plug the audiometer into Burnham using the grey USB cord (in 544)
- Open Diagnostic Suite
- See pictures below. Or, follow these instructions:
- Click the 'Transfer Data' icon in the second panel on the left side of the screen (looks like an arrow with dashed lines)
- Click on 'Single audiogram' in the same panel (icon is chart with two lines)
- Type in the date, study name, and participant ID into the comments section on the lower left panel
- Click the 'PDF' button in the top left corner
- Single-click the factory default template titled 'Single Audiogram' and click 'Select' (this will automatically save the file)
- Navigate to C:/Users/Public/Documents/audiometer and check that a new file has been saved
- Rename this file to the participant ID number
- Open the file, and check that the audiogram was correctly loaded
7. Turn off the audiometer.
- If using the audiometer's batteries for power (not the case in Waisman 544):
- Press 'F1' and 'F4' to open the menu
- Scroll down to 'Power off' and change to '1 min'
- Hold down both the rotary knobs (Hz & dB wheels)