Doctor or audiologist? Do not belive everything you hear

One of the first wonderings we all have when we suspect that we have a hearing loss is: do I have to visit an ENT doctor first or can I go directly to the audiologist? Logic tells us we have to go before to the ENT doctor, the audiologist should be always a second step, but is that always the case?
Let's take it step by step.
What does an ENT doctor? And an audiologist?
The main difference between the two is that the ENT is a doctor who heals the ear injuries, while the audiologist corrects alterations related to hearing. The ENT doctor can diagnose hearing loss, and even make audiometries, but not theat it: just as ophthalmologists do not graduate glasses in audiology the ENT doctors end up deriving their patients to the center of audiology if all they need is a hearing aid.
Therefore, if you know or suspect that all you have is hearing loss −in the previous post we reviewed some symptoms, such as no longer good following on conversations or raise the volume of the TV more than normally− and this loss is not accompanied by pain or irritation in the ear, you can go directly to the audiologist to carry on with the necessary test to correct your hearing and to be able to return to your day by day normalcy as soon as possible.
It could be the case that while you do hearing tests, your audiologist detects your hearing problem is associated with an injury that you had not noticed before −as tympanic perforation or something as simple as a wax plug− and derives you to the ENT doctor. But if hearing problems have emerged slowly, so that even cost you a while to realize that hear worse than before, it is likely that the only thing to happen is that your ear is healthy but has been losing hearing.
And now you may be assailing the second big question: do in the audiology center make hearing tests as well as in the ENT doctor? Can I trust the results? The answer is yes, and in many cases, much better. You have to take into account that the reason to be of audiology centers is correcting people hearing loss, and this can only be achieved by very accurate tests, we care about it and so because of this all the infrastructure and tools used are top quality and offer the best results.
So if you hear out there that audiologists are like ENT doctors or that hearing tests are better done in the ENT specialist, it is a good moment to apply that "do not believe everything you hear." There are many legends In the audiology world that we all have to stop them spreading around.
7 Comment(s)
Buen día, a donde puedo acudir o con quien para tratar un caso de hipoacusia neurosensorial subita y cuales son las probabilidades de recuperarse?
Buenos días Eduardo Flores, Si nota que ha perdido audición de forma repentina lo que debe hacer es visitar a un otorrino para que le de una solución lo antes posible y le exponga las posibilidades de recuperación. La hipoacúsia súbita puede deberse a múltiples factores y solo un médico otorrino está capacitado para diagnosticarla. Saludos
Tengo picoren un oido por adentro y afuera se me calienta todo el oido y dolor use gotas que me receto un medico generalista ,antibiotico se me quito pero vuelve y me repite.A donde debo ver
Hola Georgina, te recomendamos que acudas al médico otorrino. Es el médico especializado en el oído y te podrá dar un diagnóstico correcto. Esperamos tu pronta recuperación.
Cual es el especialista que debo visitar si tengo tinnitus?
Hola Kat, No existen terapias curativas para el Tinnitus, lo único que existen son terapias paliativas mediante el uso de audífonos. Por ello te recomendamos que acudas a un centro auditivo para que un audiólogo te visite y te informe de las posibilidades que existen. Puedes localizar tu centro más cercano en este enlace: https://www.claso.net/localizador-de-centros
Estoy teniendo pérdida de balance. Se lo comenté a un internista y me dijo que es la edad. Pensé ir a un audiólogo. Por lo que leí debo ir primero a un otorrino.
Hola Gloria, Si tu problema está relacionado con el vértigo debes acudir al otorrino como muy bien indicas.
cual es el especilista en diagnosticar y/o correguir los mareos creo que son posturales.
Hola Augusto, Los mareos pueden tener relación con el oído ya que el órgano del equilibrio se encuentra precisamente en el oído interno, para descartar que no tenga nada que ver con esto debes acudir a tu otorrino. Él te dirá si los mareos provienen de una afectación del oído o si por lo contrario es un tema postural fruto de una contractura, por ejemplo. Esperamos que te sirva de ayuda y que te mejores pronto. Saludos
muchas gracias lo leei tarde acabo de ir al otorrino ,desconocia el audiologo hasyq ue me lo menciono el doctor. ahora me queda mas claro jeje gracias
Me ha ayudado mucho este artículo. Gracias
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