Instruments used to determine the hearing capability of persons is called an audiometer. Determination of the hearing capability of a person is essential so that one may get the right medication. These instruments are usually under the control of a standard PC and one of their components is a hardware that can be connected to headphones. We have both software hearing devices and the hardware based ones.

An example of the software AM is the Screening PC Based AM that only uses a standard computer. This can be owned and run by anyone in their homes to check their hearing. Their accuracy however is not very good because they lack a standard for calibration. Some of these screening PC based devices can be found on a hand held device that is windows driven.

The next example is the Clinical PC Based devices which are quite expensive compared to the Screening PC Based devices, which is a software device. This type of device are way more accurate and efficient than the other software devices. These devices are mainly used by professionals in hospitals, research communities and also audiometric centres. Their calibrations is also way better and accurate than hardware devices.

There rare different types of hearing devices with different modifications in the market. The clinical Astera one is an example and it is PC based. The PC based Auricle one is another example. It uses batteries I its operation and has proved to be extra accurate. We also have the Midimate audiometers that are stand alone in other words they are not PC based. The audiometric process uses air, bone and speech.

The other one is the Itera II devices. They are hybrid which means that they are bot PC based and stand alone. The whole diagnostic process is done by these machines. Using it in the test session is very simple. The Xeta devices are a different type that have easy portability and are hybrid too. They are referred to as fast, flexible and efficient. Micro mate device is another type that is hybrid and simple for then test to be done and helps the patient to keep in contact.

The devices calibration should be checked time after time so as to ensure that the stimulus level is the same as that shown on the display. Acoustical checking of the audiometer is mainly practised by countries as the US. The American Standards Specification for Audiometers is the one that sets the method to be used in dong this.

If one intends to get their hearing loss, then they have to ensure that accuracy of their calibration is very high so as to get efficient results. If there are complications associated with the calibrations, it is an implication that in case of any treatment, then it will be wrong because of the wrong calibration.

In conclusion, audiometers are instruments used by professionals in say hospitals, but there are others that could be used domestically by people who would like to observe their hearing loss. Different audiometers are in existence as clearly listed. Their performance is determined mainly by the accuracy of their calibration.