Audiological Diagnostic Testing and Treatment Services
Designer Audiology – an audiology practice in Howard County, Maryland – offers a wide range of audiology diagnostic testing and treatment services.

Diagnostic Testing
Hearing loss, when left untreated, can have a distinct impact on a person’s life. For children, difficulties communicating can lead to frustration, learning delays, and socialization issues. For adults, hearing loss has been associated with isolation, dementia, falls, and more! Designer Audiology offers a number of different hearing test options, depending on the patient’s age and medical history.
If you suspect that you or a loved one is being affected by hearing loss, a hearing test can help diagnose the severity, type, and etiology of the hearing impairment.
The following lists are not exhaustive, but they provide an overview of the basic evaluation types:
INFANT AND CHILD TESTING
- Comprehensive Case History: For all patients. In-depth review of the patient’s medical history.
- Otoscopy: For children of all ages. Uses light to examine the external ear, ear canal, and ear drum.
- Transient Evoked and Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (TEOAEs & DPOAEs): For newborns and children. Uses an earplug placed in the outer ear to help measure the functioning of the outer hair cells in the cochlea.
- Visual Reinforcement Audiology (VRA): For children that are between the ages of six months and three years. Uses a combination of sound and visual reinforcement to strengthen a young child’s listening capabilities.
- Conditioned Play Audiometry (CPA): For children that are between the ages of two and five years old. Uses sound-guided games to reinforce listening behavior.
- Tympanometry: Uses a tiny probe to measure ear drum movement and determine the health of the middle ear system.
ADULT TESTING
- Comprehensive Case History: For all patients. In-depth review of the patient’s medical, social, and occupational history.
- Otoscopy: Uses light to examine the external ear, ear canal, and ear drum.
- Pure-Tone Audiometry: A series of tones that vary in loudness, pitch, and frequency are played through a set of earphones and bone oscillator by an audiometer. The patient is instructed to raise a hand each time he or she hears a tone.
- Word Recognition Testing: A series of words are played by an audiometer at “normal conversational levels,” in quiet and perhaps in noise. The patient is instructed to repeat the words.
- Speech-in-Noise Testing: A series of sentences presented in progressively louder simulated environments. Provides a more “real-life” experience of each patient’s hearing abilities.
Treatment Services
Once the testing has been completed, our experienced doctor of audiology will develop a plan of care with you, to improve communication in your environments, using one or more of the following treatments: