The ability to hear and hear well is something that many people take for granted. Even if you’ve never had a hearing deficit or hearing problems before, you may find that as you age you experience some hearing loss. Our facility in Plainsboro, NJ has a top-notch audiology team to address your hearing problems associated with gradual loss or trauma. Penn Medicine Becker ENT & Allergy in Plainsboro, New Jersey, offers the following audiology services.
Hearing Loss Prevention
Most forms of hearing loss are preventable. If you work at noisy job sites (e.g., construction, industrial, or manufacturing, etc.), you can lose your hearing much faster than people who work in quiet environments. A hearing doctor can provide you with proper and effective ear protection for your job if your employer doesn’t supply the equipment you need to protect your hearing.
Hearing Loss Diagnosis
If you are experiencing changes in hearing, it’s important to schedule an appointment with a hearing doctor to find the cause and develop an action plan. Simple overexposure to loud noises or an injury to the side of your head can produce some minor and/or temporary hearing loss. Other more serious hearing loss causes include auditory degenerative problems or tumors of the auditory nerves.
Additionally, the older you get, the more likely you are to notice your hearing fading. It’s important to have it diagnosed as soon as you can in order to prevent further hearing loss.
Chronic and Acute Ear Problems
An ear doctor can help you with chronic and acute ear problems too. If you experience a lot of ear infections, chronic swimmer’s ear, or ringing (tinnitus) in your ears, your ear doctor can find the source of the recurring issues and address them with medication and/or therapies that can help. Just be certain to describe the full extent of what you are experiencing to the ear doctor so that the best possible treatments can be prescribed to help you.
Vertigo and Balance
Most people don’t realize this, but your inner ear plays a very large role in how you balance and move.
The amount of fluid behind your eardrums dictates the sensation of vertigo or dizziness; too much fluid can make you feel really dizzy and can cause you to trip, fall down a lot, or just not be able to stand up without swaying. The right amount of fluid helps you maintain your balance and alert you to when your body is moving in ways contrary to how it expects to move (e.g., spinning in circles for a long time versus moving in a straight line).
If you can’t move or stand without feeling dizzy or sick, it might be an inner ear problem. An ear doctor can use the otoscope to look in your ears and find the problem. Then it can be treated to help you restore your sense of balance and reduce dizziness or feelings of vertigo.
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Hearing Aids
If your hearing loss is due to age, disease, or a natural progression of loss as a result of a genetic disorder, a hearing doctor in our audiology department can help set you up with hearing aids. We have all models of hearing aids, from the BTE (Behind the Ear) to the tiny and almost invisible ITC (In the Canal) hearing aids.
After the hearing doctor tests you to determine your level of hearing loss and helps you pick out the type of hearing aids that will work best for your lifestyle and activity level, the rest of the audiology team will fit hearing aids to your ears and adjust them for proper sound levels. You will also be trained on how to care for your hearing aids so that they will work well for several years (or until your hearing changes again).
Pediatric Hearing Needs
If the hearing doctor services you need are not for yourself, but for your infant, toddler, or older child, we have an ear doctor just for pediatric needs. A child’s ear health needs are different than an adult’s because the ear canals in children are not fully formed and do not drain like an adult’s ear canals. This is often the reason for repeated ear infections and ear health problems, as well as the source of many hearing problems.
Hearing is so vital to how children learn to speak. If your child seems unable to hear you or hear things clearly, you want to take them to see someone in our audiology department. The sooner you find and treat the issues, the sooner your child can speak, learn to speak, and/or learn to speak more clearly.
Directions to Penn Medicine Becker ENT & Allergy in Plainsboro, NJ
From Princeton Junction Train Station:
- Take Wallace Road to Princeton Hightstown Road.
- Turn left to stay on Wallace Road. Travel for 0.3 miles.
- Turn left onto Princeton Hightstown Road for 0.3 miles
- Bear right on Princeton Hightstown Road.
- Princeton Hightstown Road becomes Washington Road. Travel for 1.1 miles.
- Turn right onto US-1 N. Travel for 0.8 miles.
- Turn right onto Plainsboro Road. Travel for 0.3 miles.
- Turn left onto Punia Blvd. Travel for 348 ft.
- Turn right at the 1st cross street. Travel for 0.3 miles
- Turn left onto Hospital Drive.
- Follow signs for the Medical Arts Pavilion.
From the Plainsboro Preserve:
- Turn right onto Scotts Corner Road. Travel for 0.9 miles.
- Turn right onto Dey Road. Travel for 1.5 miles.
- Using the right 2 lanes, turn right onto Scudders Mill Road. Travel for 1.7 miles.
- Using the left 2 lanes, turn left onto Campus Road. Travel for 0.1 miles.
- Turn right onto Hospital Drive.
- Follow signs for the Medical Arts Pavilion.
From the Plainsboro Municipal Center:
- Travel towards Dey Road.
- Turn right onto Dey Road. Travel for 325 feet.
- Turn left onto Scudders Mill Road. Travel for 1.7 miles.
- Using the left 2 lanes, turn left onto Campus Road. Travel for 0.1 miles.
- Turn right onto Hospital Drive.
- Follow signs for the Medical Arts Pavilion.
From Princeton University:
- Head southeast on Washington Rd toward the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Trail. Travel for .9 miles.
- Turn left onto US Route 1. Travel for 0.8 miles.
- Turn right onto Plainsboro Road. Travel for 0.3 miles.
- Turn left onto Punia Blvd. Travel for 348 ft.
- Turn right at the 1st cross street. Travel for 0.3 miles
- Turn left onto Hospital Drive.
- Follow signs for the Medical Arts Pavilion.
FAQs
That depends on your age and any changes you have noticed in your hearing ability. Children should have their hearing checked at least once every other year once they are in school, and every year from infancy to age 5 to prevent surprise losses in hearing. Adults should have their hearing checked every few years until age 50, or when they notice that they don’t hear as well. Then they should have their hearing checked annually.
That’s relatively simple. Treat any ear infections and ear problems sooner rather than later. Wear protective earplugs or noise-canceling headphones in loud places. Avoid really loud entertainment venues, unless you wear earplugs. Get your hearing checked regularly!
Yes, there are sound amplifiers, special telephones, etc., that you can use in addition to or instead of hearing aids. Ask your audiologist about these devices.
Visit Our Plainsboro Office
Book your appointment with our highly qualified and experienced audiologist team in our Plainsboro, NJ office today. Call us at 609-547-3315 or make an appointment online using our convenient online fill-out form.