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A better hearing test has been invented in Melbourne, using words not beeps.

It’s taken 70 years to invent a better hearing test. That’s how long we’ve been using the classic ‘beep’ audiology test, first developed to assess returned soldiers from WW2.

A team of Melbourne researchers has now created a new test that uses real words, not tones. You can do the test yourself at home or work and obtain an immediate, easily understood interpretation of the results. If you need a hearing aid, they can send you one within days.

Jessica Taft using the new Blamey Saunders Hears hearing test. Credit: David Semmens, Science in Public.

But they haven’t developed the test just to sell their Australian-developed hearing aids. They’re gifting it to the community because they believe that the traditional test has become a barrier to the four million Australians who would benefit from a hearing aid but do nothing about it.

“Too few Australians are getting their hearing tested. They’re put off by the stigma and inconvenience of going to see an audiologist,” says Professor Peter Blamey, chairman of Blamey Saunders Hears and deputy director of the Bionics Institute.

“Eventually many of them are dragged in by their partners. But they’ve often already become stressed, depressed and/or socially isolated.”

If hearing loss is left untreated too long, then the brain adjusts and the deficiency becomes harder to correct.

“While working on the bionic ear, I spent many years studying how toddlers develop speech and more recently on how many of us gradually lose our ability to understand the spoken word. Last year, I realised that the big flaw with the traditional hearing test is that it’s not directly measuring how we hear and understand speech,” he says.

“Our test comprises 50 English words presented to both ears in a quiet environment. Each word has a consonant-vowel-consonant structure, and the lists are phonetically balanced, with the proportions of each vowel and consonant being close to the proportions found in the English language in general. There are billions of test variations and it provides more relevant information than a traditional test.”

Professor Blamey hopes that the new test will become a global standard, replacing the traditional audiogram for all but the most specialist tests. He believes it also can contribute to improving hearing in remote communities and developing countries with limited infrastructure.

“Successful hearing aid use can not only reduce hearing difficulties, but also slow hearing deterioration,” says Dr Elaine Saunders, audiologist and managing director at Blamey Saunders Hears.

“We want people around the age of 40 and up to take the test to see how they rate,” Blamey says. “It’s important to catch hearing issues early so they don’t get worse.”

Compare the tests:

Take the test yourself: www.blameysaunders.com.au/testyourhearing.

Read more about the test: http://www.scienceinpublic.com.au/blameysaunders/hearingtest.