Hearing & Balance
About our audiologist, Paul Stephenson, M.S., CCC-A.
Dallas ENT – Head & Neck Surgery Center is a full service provider of both hearing and balance services.
This includes evaluation and treatment for ear pain, hearing loss, dizziness
(vertigo), and ringing in the ears (tinnitus).
Our friendly, professional staff is available to provide a full range of diagnostic testing and, when necessary, state-of-the-art hearing aids. Our board-certified Ear, Nose and Throat specialists, as well as our staff of licensed audiologists, are dedicated to providing your with outstanding clinical excellence and customer service.
An audiologist is a professional who has received a Master's or Doctoral degree from an accredited university graduate program. This means your services are being provided by a professional who has between 6 to 8 years of college education with 2 to 4 of those years spent exclusively in the areas of ear and hearing disorders. Our physician-audiologist team is trained to diagnose, manage and treat hearing or balance problems for individuals from birth through adulthood. If a patient's hearing problem is non-medical in nature, the audiologist will prescribe a treatment plan that incorporates a hearing aid or other assistive devices. There are no other professionals better trained or able to serve your hearing needs.
Nearly 30 million Americans have impaired hearing - that's one in ten of the general population and one in three persons over the age of 60. Medical devices such as hearing aids and rehabilitation can substantially reduce hearing loss in the vast majority of patients.
Physicians classify hearing loss as either "conductive" or "sensorineural." A hearing loss is conductive when there is a problem with the ear canal, the eardrum and/or the middle ear including the three bones connected to the eardrum. Common reasons for this type of hearing loss are a plug of excess wax in the ear canal or fluid behind the eardrum. Medical treatment or surgery may be available for these and more complex forms of conductive hearing loss.
A hearing loss is sensorineural when it results from damage to the inner ear (cochlea) or auditory nerve, often as a result of the aging process and/or noise exposure. Sounds may be unclear and/or too soft. Sensitivity to loud sounds may occur. Medical or surgical intervention cannot correct most sensorineural hearing losses. However, hearing aids may help you reclaim some sounds that you are missing as a result of nerve deafness.
A mixed hearing loss is a combination of both conductive and sensorineural type hearing problems.
All hearing aids at Dallas ENT – Head & Neck Surgery Center are fitted on a 30-day trial basis–regardless of whether you are a first-time user or an experienced wearer who wants to upgrade to more advanced technology. We believe allowing you to experience hearing aids in your own home and personal environment helps you to determine what is best for you. If for any reason you choose not to keep the hearing instrument during the trial period, it can be returned to the factory for credit and only a nominal fitting fee will be charged. Our professional team of audiologists are properly instructed on the correct use and care of your devices, and continually works with you so you can receive maximum benefits from your hearing aids.