If you’ve been thinking about booking a hearing test, you’ve probably seen offers for “free hearing checks” online, in pharmacies, or even in shopping centres. These quick screenings can sound convenient, but it’s important to understand what they actually measure — and just as importantly, what they don’t.
A free hearing test is not the same as a full diagnostic hearing assessment. At The Audiology Place in Forestville, we recommend a full diagnostic evaluation because your hearing health deserves more than a quick “pass or fail.” Here’s why.
Free Hearing Tests
A free hearing test is usually a screening. It takes about 10–15 minutes and is designed to give a quick indication of whether hearing loss may be present.
Often offered in pharmacies, shopping centres, or online.
Usually conducted outside of a soundproof environment.
Checks a very limited range of pitches (typically four frequencies between 500Hz and 4kHz).
Provides a simple “within normal range” or “possible loss” result.
That’s it. You walk away with a yes/no answer, but no real insight into what’s going on with your hearing. To be clear, we do not offer this service.
Even “free online hearing tests” can be misleading. Your computer speakers or headphones may not be calibrated, resulting in inaccurate sound levels. Results can be skewed — and sometimes manipulated by providers as a marketing tool to push certain hearing aids.
Why a Full Diagnostic Hearing Assessment Matters
A full diagnostic hearing assessment is a 45–60 minute appointment with an audiologist in a soundproof room. It goes far beyond a basic screen and provides detailed information about the type, degree, and cause of hearing loss.
Pure Tone Audiometry (Air and Bone Conduction)
This is the test most people picture when they think of a hearing test: wearing headphones in a quiet room and pressing a button whenever you hear a beep. But in a full diagnostic assessment, we don’t just stop at a handful of pitches. We map your thresholds across the entire range of human hearing, from the deepest bass sounds to the highest pitches — including the higher frequencies that are often the first to fade with age or noise exposure.
Air conduction tells us how sound travels through your outer and middle ear.
Bone conduction bypasses those structures and sends vibrations directly to your inner ear.
By comparing the two, we can determine whether hearing loss is caused by problems in the middle ear (such as fluid, infection, or wax) or in the inner ear (such as age-related or noise-induced loss).
Tympanometry
Sometimes hearing issues aren’t about the inner ear at all — they’re about how well the eardrum and tiny bones in the middle ear are moving. Tympanometry is a quick and gentle test where a small probe changes the air pressure in your ear canal, a bit like the sensation of going up in an aeroplane. It helps us detect:
Middle ear fluid
Blockages
Perforated eardrums
Stiffening of the tiny ossicles
This information is invaluable for diagnosing conductive hearing loss and ensuring that any underlying medical issues are identified early.
Speech Discrimination Tests
It’s one thing to hear a sound, and another thing to understand it. Many people with hearing loss say, “I can hear you, but I can’t make out what you’re saying.” Speech discrimination testing measures how clearly you can understand words at different volumes, both in quiet and against background noise.
This matters because in real life, hearing rarely happens in silence. Understanding how your brain processes speech provides a clearer picture of your daily listening challenges, and it helps guide whether hearing aids or other supports are the best solution.
Otoacoustic Emissions (OAEs)
Inside your inner ear, tiny sensory hair cells detect sound vibrations and transmit them to your brain. Healthy hair cells produce a faint echo — a measurable sound called an “otoacoustic emission.” By placing a small probe in your ear, we can record these responses.
Why does this matter? OAEs help us:
Detect very early signs of inner ear damage (sometimes before hearing loss shows up in audiometry).
Confirm whether hearing issues are due to sensory hair cell damage or something else.
Accurately test babies and young children who can’t respond to beeps.
It’s a cutting-edge way to gain a deeper understanding of your hearing health.
Real Ear Measurements (REM)
If hearing aids are part of your treatment plan, fitting them properly is just as important as choosing the right device. Real Ear Measurements are the gold standard for ensuring precision.
A tiny microphone is placed in your ear canal alongside the hearing aid, and we measure exactly how sound is amplified inside your unique ear shape. Everyone’s ear canal is different, and without REM, a hearing aid may be under- or over-amplifying sounds.
REM ensures your hearing aids are tuned not just to a prescription, but to your ear — providing clarity, comfort, and the best possible outcome.
This comprehensive picture informs us whether the hearing loss is conductive, sensorineural, or mixed, where it’s located (outer, middle, or inner ear), and what the next step should be — whether that is a medical referral, tinnitus management, or a tailored hearing aid prescription.
Why Frequency Range Matters
A free hearing check usually tests at just four pitches. But hearing loss often begins in the higher frequencies, which are crucial for understanding speech clarity, children’s voices, birdsong, or alarms. Missing those high notes won’t necessarily show up in a free test, meaning issues can go undetected until the hearing loss becomes more advanced.
A full diagnostic test assesses your thresholds across a much wider range (250Hz–8kHz and beyond, if required), providing a more accurate picture of your hearing health.
Quick Screen vs. Full Assessment
| Feature | Free Hearing Test | Full Diagnostic Hearing Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Basic screening (pass/fail) | Detailed diagnosis & treatment plan |
| Duration | 10–15 minutes | 45–60 minutes |
| Location | Pharmacy, shopping centre, or online | Soundproof clinic room |
| Frequencies Tested | 4 basic pitches | Full range, including higher frequencies |
| Personnel | Technician or admin staff | Qualified audiologist |
| Tests Included | Simple pure-tone check | Full battery (audiometry, tympanometry, OAEs, REM, speech tests) |
| Results | “Normal” or “loss suspected” | Type, degree, and cause of hearing loss |
| Next Step | Referral for full test if loss is suspected | Personalised treatment plan, medical referral, or hearing aid prescription |
