[LINK] Hearing tests for free by phone (o/t)

[Ivan Trundle]

Has anyone actually tried the test?

I did, and it's very clear (pardon the pun) that using a cordless  
phone with a keypad adjacent to the earpiece is a handicap.

At the culmination of the test, my hearing was deemed to be 'near the  
edge of the range for normal hearing' - a polite way of suggesting  
that my hearing is almost no longer satisfactory.

My personal assessment of the test was that the frequency range seemed  
to be rather restricted to the upper range (or was it my phone?) - my  
sensitivity to low frequency noises is very high (alas - a/c units,  
engines, and doof doof stereos drive me mad), whereas my high  
frequency sensitivity is much less: perhaps others can comment on what  
perceived range of frequencies they had to deal with!

Further, the problem with using a combined keypad/earpiece (i.e.  
cordless/one-piece phone) is that adjustment is needed to move from  
pressing buttons to resuming the hearing test, and if you're not quick  
enough in keying the three number responses requested, the results are  
lost.

I was reprimanded for not keying in the three numbers that I heard,  
only because I was too tardy in finding the keys. Not only that, but  
the speed at which one has to resume hearing (for the test) is fast  
enough to make me believe that I'm borderline geriatric - hearing or  
otherwise. It takes time to 'settle' the earpiece.

It seems a bit odd to make the pace of the test so fast that a middle- 
aged person like me (with what I consider reasonable keying skills,  
though I'm no SMS-junkie) has trouble keeping up.

iT