Can You Fake a Hearing Test?

Are you tempted to fake your hearing test? Are you suspicious that your child may want to fake their hearing test? If you or your loved one has any hearing concerns, it’s beneficial to visit an audiologist and get this tested. But why would someone fake their test if these are meant to improve your life?

Regardless, it’s not a good idea to fake your test, so where’s what you need to know if you or someone you know is tempted into doing so?

You Can Expect Untreated Hearing Loss to Worsen

If you managed to fake your hearing test, then chances are you may have hearing loss. It may be worse than you think. Putting off hearing impairment treatment is going to do far more harm to you. As you know, hearing is a major part of life, and it’s constantly used, even in your sleep. It’s going to get to the point where the speech and sound recognition in your brain will deteriorate. Here are some of the major downsides you can expect:

• Quality of life goes down
• Social withdrawal
• Higher risk of Alzheimer’s

What You Can Expect When Taking a Hearing Test

Are you worried about the hearing test? Is it something that intimidates you? Don’t worry; your audiologist will be very understanding and patient with you. If you’re curious about what to expect from a hearing test, here’s what to expect:

• Discussing any health issues that could impact hearing.
• Reflective responses of middle ear muscles.
• Discussion of your concerns.
• Check for infections and built-up wax.
• Pure-tone testing.

Is There Tests That Cannot Be Faked?

So, are there any tests that can be faked? Fortunately, some examinations during the hearing test cannot be faked. So, if you have a child, you’re concerned will fake this, then you’re in for luck because it’s too challenging to fake these. Let’s dive in to see what they are.

You Can’t Fake Your Thresholds

One of the tests you can expect to have is the tone test. When it comes to this test, your audiologist will make clicking and beeping sounds in different tones and measure your brainwave activity as your brain responds to these sounds. Your hearing test results are shown on an audiogram.

This chart shows the softest sound you can hear at different frequencies or pitches, called your thresholds. It’s important to understand that these thresholds aren’t exact, but they are close enough for us to tell how severe your hearing loss is by looking at these charts. You can’t necessarily fake those because it’s all due to your responsiveness.

You Can’t Fake Your Reflexes

One thing that cannot be done no matter how hard you try would be faking your reflexes. Usually, one of the tests that are done is checking your reflexes when hearing. Acoustic reflexes are a type of response that an acoustic reflex tester can measure. These tests measure a change in acoustic impedance when a loud tone is presented to the ear.

In general, it’s never a good idea to fake your hearing test. Not only will this hurt you down the road, but your audiologist may get suspicious. Having a good-trusting relationship with your audiologist is important, as all they want to do is help you out. Talk with your audiologist today!