The hearing care professional will begin by exploring your medical and hearing history. Then, he or she will:

1. Examine your ears (otoscopy), test the mobility of your eardrum, and check the pressure in the middle ear. This helps to determine whether your hearing loss is due to problems in the middle ear (conductive) or problems in the inner ear (sensorineural).
                          
2. Perform a thorough hearing test, which produces an audiogram showing the extent of your hearing loss.
   
3. Try to determine how well you understand speech.

All of these tests are fast and painless.