Services
The following services are offered by the UPMC Hamot audiology department:
- Complete adult hearing assessments for decreased hearing, dizziness, and tinnitus
- Comprehensive pediatric hearing assessments for newborns through school-aged children
- Sleep deprived physiologic hearing assessments for difficult to test children- auditory brainstem response testing for hearing estimation
- Evoked potentials - auditory, visual, and somatosensory neurological assessments
- Hearing aid selection and fitting (competitive prices and a 30-day trial period) - Provider of Phonak Hearing System technology
- Hearing aid repairs and follow-up services
- Ear protection for swimming and hearing (including hunting and firearm use)
- Custom ear pieces for cell phone and other hands-free communication devices
- Monitoring of hearing for patients on ototoxic medications that may result in permanent hearing loss (i.e. chemotherapy)
- Sedated hearing assessments for difficult to test children
- Hearing aid provider for children on medical assistance
- Real measures to ensure that hearing aids are providing the most appropriate gain and output (essential for fitting pediatric patients)
- Assistive listening devices
UPMC Hamot's audiology department is located on the ground floor of the South Complex at the hospital. Hours of service are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Call 814-877-2537 for appointments and 814-877-2820 for audiology questions. A limited number of early morning appointments are available.
How do I know if I need to see an audiologist?
- You frequently need to ask people to repeat themselves or to speak more loudly.
- You have difficulty hearing in a noisy room or avoid social situations such as restaurants or parties where noise can make it difficult to hear.
- You have ringing in your ears.
- You have dizziness or loss of balance.
- You have difficulty hearing on the telephone.
- You have difficulty hearing alarms on watches or birds singing.
- You have a history of hearing loss in your family.
- You turn up the television to a volume level that disturbs others.
How do I know if my child may need to be evaluated by an audiologist?
- Your child is not developing speech/language skills as quickly as other children his or her age see speech/language milestones.
- Your child has frequent or persistent ear infections.
- Your child does not respond consistently to both soft and loud sounds.
- Your child needs the television turned up very loud to hear.
- Your child often asks you to repeat what you say to him or her.
- Your child seems overly sensitive to loud sounds.
- Your child talks loudly.
- Your child has trouble localizing sound direction (telling where sound is coming from).
- Your child has a risk factor for hearing loss in children:
- family history of permanent childhood hearing loss.
- history of bacterial meningitis.
- history of head trauma with loss of consciousness or skull fracture.
- identification of syndromes associated with hearing problems.
- some cancer treatments.
