The Hearing Test That Helps You Hear—and Live—Your Best.
Don’t Guess. Know. The first step is to schedule a Complete Diagnostic Hearing Test in Indiana at one of our offices.
Quick, Comfortable, Comprehensive—See What a HearBest Test Reveals. This evaluation will provide our Audiologists with the proper information to create a personal plan of success. Protect Your Cognitive Health—Book Your Expert Hearing Test Today.
Real‑World Tested Devices. Doctor‑Led Care. Better Hearing Starts Here. Watch this video ⬇️
HearBest is your local audiologist practice with nine offices located in Avon, Carmel/Noblesville, Crown Point,
Delphi, Fishers, Greenwood, Lafayette – East, Lafayette – South, Schererville,
West Lafayette, and Whitestown/Zionsville, Indiana.
With the combination of our proficient audiologists and the latest technology, we provide our patients with the resources to improve their hearing. The first step is to schedule a hearing test in Indiana at one of our offices. This evaluation that will provide our Audiologists with the proper information to create a personal plan of success.
A recent visit to HearBest offered a clear look at what a modern hearing evaluation involves and why it matters. For many people—including musicians and others who rely on precise sound—regular hearing checks can be as important as annual eye exams or physicals. The process is straightforward, conducted by a specialist who assesses how well different parts of the hearing system are working together.
Hearing health is closely tied to brain health. Experts emphasize that hearing isn’t just an ear issue; the brain plays a central role in processing sound. Research has associated untreated hearing loss with a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia, with even mild loss potentially increasing risk. Establishing a baseline test around age 40 helps track changes over time and identify when treatment might help. Early identification and intervention can support communication, quality of life, and long-term cognitive outcomes.
The evaluation itself is simple and painless. It typically starts with a visual check of the ear canal, followed by placing soft insert earphones. You’ll hear a series of words to repeat and faint tones (the “beeps”), pressing a button whenever you detect them—even if the sound is barely audible. These steps measure thresholds and speech understanding, painting a detailed picture of what you can and can’t hear. Many appointments are efficient, often taking only a short part of a day.
Some audiologists bring a unique perspective by managing their own hearing needs and using hearing devices daily. This firsthand experience can inform device selection and fine-tuning, especially in challenging environments like busy restaurants. Ongoing evaluation of technology—beyond what manufacturers promise—helps match real-world performance to patient goals, refining care to meet a wide range of listening demands.
For many people, the result of a test may simply confirm normal hearing and provide peace of mind; for others, it can be the first step toward targeted treatment. Either way, incorporating hearing checks into a routine health plan—especially from midlife onward—can help catch changes early and guide next steps. If you’re considering an evaluation, contacting a local audiology clinic or scheduling through a clinic’s website are common ways to get started.
Hearing Tests in Indiana
Once you complete a hearing evaluation, we can discuss the next steps, which may be hearing aids or tinnitus treatment.
Please feel free to contact us if you would like to know more about our hearing tests in Indiana.
To reach an expert at the Whitestown/Zionsville, Carmel, or Fishers location, please call us at (317) 942-3231.
You can also give us a call at (765) 771-7109 to speak with a hearing specialist at either the Lafayette or West Lafayette, Indiana.
At HearBest, our patients are our number one priority, and we are always happy to answer your questions.
Hearing Exams: Our process.
- Comprehensive case history
- Otoscopy (visual inspection of ear canal)
- Cerumen management if needed
- Comprehensive hearing evaluation
- Air Conduction testing
- Bone Conductiontesting
- Comprehensive speech testing
Hearing Test Results: The Audiogram.
What it is, how to read it, and what it means to you.
To put it simply, the audiogram is a graph of your hearing ability that is created during a hearing test. The audiogram tells your audiologist what types of sounds you can hear well, and what types of sounds you can’t hear due to hearing loss. Most people can hear sounds at some pitches, but not others! Let’s look at the MOST COMMON type of hearing loss… pictured below.
This person has a very significant hearing loss. When they arrived at our office, the first thing they said was, “People are always telling me I need to get hearing aids, but I think they all mumble. I can hear just fine! Just the other day I heard the dog barking from half a mile away!”. How can this be? How can this person, with this severe hearing loss, think that they have totally normal hearing? We look to the audiogram for our answer.
The audiogram shows us the very quietest level of sound that a person can hear across a variety of pitches, from very low “bass” sounds to very high-pitched “ringing” sounds. Each ear has its own symbol:
The numbers running up and down on the left side of the graph represent loudness in decibels (dB). The bigger the number, the louder the sound! If all the X’s and O’s are up towards the top of the graph, the person is considered to have normal hearing. If the X’s and O’s are found towards the bottom of the graph, then the person has severe hearing loss.
The last thing we need to know to read an audiogram is the numbers running left to right across the top of the graph. This represents pitch. The deep, bass-like pitches are shown on the left, and the high-pitched ringing sounds are shown off to the right.
Now that we know how to read the audiogram, let’s consider again our initial question:
How can a person with severe hearing loss have no idea that their hearing is bad?
Let’s look at the graph.
This person has really good hearing at 250 and 500 Hz, which is a very low-pitched sound. That’s why they could hear their big dog barking… because their big dog has a deep “voice”. But, if there was a bird with a high-pitched “chirp” making noise right next to their ear, they may barely hear it! This is because they have severe hearing loss in the higher pitches. Okay, so the patient can hear dogs barking, but not birds chirping. So what, right? Well, it turns out high-pitched hearing loss has major consequences in understanding speech.
We humans are unique. We have developed language to communicate with each other. Our words contain sounds of all sorts of pitches, from very low to very high and everything in between! Here are some examples of low-pitched sounds:
- “ah” like in the word “wash”
- “oh” like in the word “boat”
- “oo” like in the word “loot”
This patient can hear those sounds without any issue. They can hear the “vowels” of speech very well!
Here are some sounds they CANNOT hear well at all:
- “sh” or “t” like in the words, “sheet” or “shirt”
- “f” or “ch” like in the word “fetch”
In many cases, these high-pitched sounds of speech make all the difference in the world, distinguishing one word from another. People with this type of hearing loss have to work harder to communicate with others, because they often have to make their best guess as to what word was said, all while trying to follow the conversation. Throw in multiple people speaking all at once, and they may not hear much of anything at all!
Hearing aids from HearBest are custom programmed to each patient’s specific and unique audiogram. If we look one more time at our audiogram here, it becomes clear that making all sounds louder would simply not work for this patient. This patient had unique needs. We programmed a set of hearing aids that boosted the volume of the higher-pitches by a lot, the middle pitches by a little, and the lower pitches were left alone. The result: Crisp, natural sound quality, increased speech understanding in all situations, and increased quality of life for the patient. Once this patient tried our hearing aids for the first time, they never looked back.