Hearing Tests & Services
Hearing Tests & Hearing Aid Services in Lawrenceville, GA
From a free comprehensive hearing evaluation through hearing aid fitting, Real Ear Measurement, programming, repair and follow-up, our Lawrenceville clinic provides one connected path to better hearing. Gwen Cantrell, BC-HIS, explains what the results mean, recommends only what fits your needs and refers medical warning signs to an ENT or physician.
What to know before you schedule
- A comprehensive hearing evaluation measures more than volume — it also measures how clearly you understand words, including with background noise present.
- A quick screening and a full evaluation are different things. We’ll help you figure out which one makes sense before you come in.
- If you can tell people are talking but can’t quite make out the words, that’s useful diagnostic information — not just “getting older.”
- For hearing aids, Real Ear Measurement and Live Speech Mapping confirm the devices are actually delivering sound correctly in your specific ears, not just set from a generic formula.
- If your symptoms point toward something a physician should look at first, we’ll tell you directly and help you get an ENT referral.
Board-Certified Hearing Instrument Specialist · Updated August 4, 2026
How we approach every visit
1 Evaluate
A full hearing test in our sound-treated booth: pure-tone testing, plus speech understanding testing and speech-in-noise testing when it’s relevant to what you’re experiencing.
2 Explain
We walk through your results in plain language — what your audiogram shows, what your speech scores mean, and what they add up to for your specific situation.
3 Verify
For hearing aids, Real Ear Measurement and Live Speech Mapping confirm the devices are delivering sound correctly in your ears, not just programmed from a generic formula.
4 Support
Care continues after the appointment: adjustments and follow-up, cleaning, and remote programming when an in-person visit isn’t needed.
Hearing screening or comprehensive evaluation?
People often aren’t sure which one they need. Here’s the difference:
Hearing Screening
A quick pass/fail-style check, often around 10 minutes. Good starting point if you’re not sure whether a full evaluation is worth scheduling. Doesn’t determine the type or degree of hearing loss.
Comprehensive Hearing Evaluation
A comprehensive hearing evaluation can include an audiogram plus speech-understanding and speech-in-noise measures. This level of detail helps guide hearing-aid recommendations and identifies findings that warrant medical or ENT referral.
Explore our services
Hearing Tests & Diagnostics
Screenings, comprehensive evaluations, speech understanding and speech-in-noise testing, live speech mapping and Real Ear Measurement.
Hearing Aid Fitting & Programming
Initial fittings, programming, reprogramming, remote programming, and ongoing adjustments and follow-up care.
Repair & Maintenance
Hearing aid repair, cleaning and tune-ups, troubleshooting, and custom earmolds.
Hearing Protection
Custom hearing protection, musician earplugs and industrial hearing protection for noise-exposed work and hobbies.
Need testing at work, or care that comes to you? See Occupational & Workplace Hearing Testing or Mobile Hearing Care.
Understanding your results
Your audiogram plots the softest sounds you can hear at different pitches, from low tones like a bass drum to high tones like birdsong or a child’s voice. It shows us the degree of hearing loss and, often, what’s likely causing it.
But the audiogram alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Two people can have very similar audiograms and understand speech very differently — that’s why we test word recognition separately, and why speech-in-noise testing matters so much. Most people’s hardest listening environments aren’t quiet rooms — they’re restaurants, family gatherings and car rides, and a standard quiet-booth test can miss that difficulty entirely.
Gwen Explains: “I can hear you, I just can’t understand you”
That description is one of the most common things patients say, and it’s genuinely useful diagnostic information — it usually means we need to look past the audiogram alone and into speech understanding and speech-in-noise scores specifically. This is also the exact situation our restaurant hearing challenge is built to illustrate: it’s not unusual to hear sound clearly but still lose the details of a conversation once background noise is added.
When we recommend seeing an ENT or physician first
Not every hearing concern starts with a hearing aid. We’ll tell you directly, and help coordinate the referral, if you have: sudden hearing loss in one or both ears, hearing loss accompanied by pain, drainage or dizziness, one-sided hearing loss without a known cause, or a visible wax blockage that needs medical removal. See our full ENT & Medical Referral Assistance page for more detail.
What to bring to your first visit
- A list of current medications, especially any linked to hearing changes
- Your current hearing aids, if you have them, even if they’re not working well
- A family member or friend, if a second set of ears helps you feel comfortable
- A quick mental list of where hearing feels hardest — restaurants, phone calls, TV, meetings
- Your insurance card, if you’d like us to help you understand your benefits
Professional references
For additional general information, see the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders hearing resources and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association overview of pure-tone testing. This page is educational and does not replace medical diagnosis.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a comprehensive hearing evaluation take?
Most evaluations run about 45 to 60 minutes, including time to review your results together and answer questions.
What’s the difference between a screening and a full evaluation?
A screening is a quick pass/fail check that helps identify whether further testing is worth scheduling. A comprehensive evaluation includes a full audiogram plus speech understanding and speech-in-noise testing, and is what any hearing aid recommendation is based on.
Can a hearing test explain why I hear people talking but can’t understand the words?
Often, yes. That experience points us toward speech understanding and speech-in-noise testing specifically, since a standard quiet-room test doesn’t always capture it.
What if testing points toward something medical rather than typical hearing loss?
We’ll tell you directly and help you get an appropriate referral. Sudden, one-sided or painful hearing changes are situations where we recommend an ENT or physician evaluation before anything else.
How often should I have my hearing checked?
For most adults, an annual check is reasonable, and sooner if you notice a change or increased difficulty following conversations.
Do you help with insurance and pricing questions?
Yes — visit our Pricing & Insurance page, or ask when you call to schedule.
Is there a free option if I’m not ready to schedule an in-person visit?
Yes. Our free 2-minute online hearing screener is a clinically validated starting point you can complete at home.
Ready to find out how you’re really hearing?
Schedule a comprehensive hearing evaluation with Gwen Cantrell, BC-HIS, in Lawrenceville — or start with a free online screener if you’re not ready to come in yet.