Tympanometry

Tympanometry is a quick, painless test that evaluates how well your middle ear is functioning. Unlike a standard hearing test, tympanometry doesn’t measure what you can hear — instead, it measures how your eardrum and middle ear respond to changes in air pressure, giving our providers important insight into the physical health of your ear. At Valley ENT, tympanometry is often used alongside other hearing evaluations to give a complete picture of your ear health and help pinpoint the source of any hearing difficulty, pressure, or discomfort you may be experiencing.

A hearing concern may originate in the middle ear rather than the inner ear. Tympanometry provides valuable information about eardrum movement, pressure behind the eardrum and middle ear function. It is often performed as part of a broader hearing evaluation and can be especially helpful for children or patients with ear pressure, fluid or recurring infections. By measuring eardrum movement and middle ear pressure, tympanometry helps our providers identify:

-Fluid buildup behind the eardrum (often related to ear infections)

-Eustachian tube dysfunction

-Eardrum perforations

-Wax buildup or blockages affecting middle ear function

-Reduced mobility of the eardrum or middle ear bones (ossicles)

This information is especially useful in diagnosing conductive hearing loss — hearing difficulty caused by sound not moving efficiently through the outer or middle ear — and in distinguishing it from other types of hearing loss.