Can an Audiologist Come to My Home in Ireland?
If getting into a hearing clinic is difficult, you may be wondering: can an audiologist come to my home in Ireland?
The answer is yes. HearMed does provide home audiologist visits where appropriate.
There are all sorts of reasons why somebody might prefer to have a hearing test at home. It could be as simple as ease of access. You may be struggling to find transport, have reduced mobility, be recovering from an illness, live in a nursing or residential home, or simply feel more comfortable having your hearing checked somewhere familiar.
For some people, going into a new clinical environment can be daunting in itself. Having a hearing assessment in the comfort of your own home can make the whole experience feel a little more relaxed, particularly if a family member or carer is able to be there with you.
That said, there is an important difference between being able to carry out a hearing test at home and preferring to carry one out at home.
Wherever possible, HearMed will normally recommend attending one of our clinics. Hearing tests work best in a controlled environment. In our clinics, we can manage background noise and know the conditions in which the test is being carried out.. Your home naturally has more variables: traffic outside, a television in another room, children, pets or simply the everyday sounds of a house.
But that should not put you off asking. If you've been wondering “can an audiologist come to my home in Ireland?”, the answer is that HearMed can provide home visits where they are suitable and available.
If getting into a clinic is genuinely difficult, ring HearMed and tell us your circumstances. We can talk it through with you and let you know whether a home hearing test is suitable and whether an audiologist can visit your area.
Reviewed by Rose Multaney, BA (Hons) Bachelors with Honors in Audiology Anglia Ruskin University · Updated September 2026
Can an Audiologist Come to My Home in Ireland for a Hearing Test?
A home audiology visit is much more than somebody arriving at your house and playing a few beeps through a pair of headphones. Our aim is to carry out as much of a proper hearing assessment as is appropriate in the home environment and, just as importantly, to understand what you are actually experiencing day to day. Normally, one of the first things your audiologist or hearing aid dispenser will do is simply sit down and talk to you. How has your hearing been? When did you first notice a change? Are you struggling to follow conversations? Is it worse in groups, with the television, at a distance or when there is background noise? Sometimes people come into a hearing assessment saying, “My hearing isn't actually that bad — everyone just mumbles.” Others can hear that somebody is speaking but cannot make out the individual words. Those details matter because hearing is not simply about whether something is loud enough. The next step will normally involve otoscopy. An otoscope is the instrument we use to look into the ear canal and at the eardrum. The audiologist will check for things such as excessive earwax, signs of discharge, obvious obstruction and other findings that may mean testing or treatment should be approached differently. If everything is suitable to continue, we move on to the hearing test itself. We place small inserts in your ears and play a series of beeps and tones. Every time you hear one, even if it is very soft, you press the response button. We are trying to find the softest sound you can hear at a number of different pitches or frequencies. We plot those responses on a graph called an audiogram. You can think of the frequencies a little like the keys on a piano. We do not only test one sound. We move across different pitches — usually through the frequencies that are particularly important for understanding speech — and establish your hearing threshold at each point. Depending on the assessment, we may also use bone-conduction testing to help us understand the nature of the hearing loss. For a home visit, HearMed can bring equipment including: an otoscope a portable audiometer bone-conduction testing equipment hearing-aid programming and maintenance equipment where required microsuction equipment where earwax removal has been arranged and is clinically appropriate There are, however, limitations to testing somebody at home. The biggest one is noise. In a clinic, we know and control the testing environment. At home, a passing truck, dog barking, television in the next room or people talking can affect very quiet sounds. This is why we still prefer a clinical environment for a full hearing assessment wherever travelling to the clinic is reasonably possible. Interestingly, the opposite can sometimes be true later in the hearing journey. If somebody does require hearing aids, their own home can be a very useful place to see how they actually hear in everyday life. After all, hearing is not just something we do inside a test room.
Who May Benefit From a Home Hearing Appointment?
There is no single type of person who asks HearMed for a home audiologist visit. Some people have significant mobility difficulties and simply cannot comfortably get into a clinic. Others may be recovering from an operation or illness and are temporarily unable to travel. We also see patients living in nursing homes and residential-care settings, older people who no longer drive, and patients who rely on relatives or carers for transport. Sometimes it is simply very difficult to organise getting somebody out of their home. In fact, a large number of enquiries about home hearing tests come from somebody other than the patient themselves. A husband, wife, son, daughter or carer might ring us and say: “Do you come to the patient's home?” or: “My mam can't get into the clinic. Would somebody be able to come out to her?” That is completely normal. Where possible, we actually encourage somebody close to the patient to be present for the hearing assessment. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it can make the person being tested feel more comfortable. Hearing tests are straightforward, but if somebody is already struggling to hear, meeting a new clinician and trying to take in a lot of new information can be tiring. Secondly, another pair of ears is useful. After a hearing test we may be discussing an audiogram, the level of hearing loss, what it means in everyday life and what options are available. It can be difficult for anybody to remember everything discussed during a healthcare appointment, and hearing loss can make that even harder. There is another practical benefit too. Where appropriate, we may carry out additional functional listening checks involving speech, background noise or distance. Having somebody use a voice that the patient knows extremely well can sometimes give us useful information about the person's real-world listening ability. A familiar voice can also tell us a lot. An audiologist is trained to speak clearly, but that is not how everybody sounds in everyday life. We may, for example, look at how somebody follows words at different distances or how well they understand speech when listening becomes more difficult. These practical observations can complement the formal hearing assessment and help us understand how the hearing loss is actually affecting the person, rather than concentrating only on numbers on a graph. A home hearing appointment can therefore be particularly useful for: people with limited mobility people who are housebound people recovering from illness or surgery nursing-home or residential-care residents people without suitable transport patients who rely on carers or family members people who find travelling to a clinic particularly difficult However, convenience alone does not automatically make a home appointment the best clinical option. If you can comfortably attend a HearMed clinic, that will normally remain our preferred setting because we have much greater control over the testing environment.
What Happens During a Home Hearing Assessment?
One of the parts of a hearing assessment that we consider most important is explaining the result in a way that actually makes sense. Looking at an audiogram for the first time can be confusing. There are lines, numbers and symbols everywhere. We normally explain it using the two axes of the graph. Down the left-hand side of the audiogram is the volume or intensity of the sound, measured in decibels. Across the bottom are the frequencies, measured in Hertz. An easy way of imagining frequency is to think of the keys of a piano. As you move from the lower frequencies towards the higher frequencies, the pitch changes. During the hearing test, we are effectively asking: What is the softest sound you can hear at each of these different pitches? Your responses allow us to plot a picture of your hearing. We then show you where your hearing sits on the graph. This can range from normal hearing through mild, moderate, severe and profound hearing loss. We also look at the shape of the hearing loss and whether one or both ears are affected.. The World Health Organization, for example, considers hearing thresholds of 20 dB or better to be within the normal-hearing range and grades loss progressively beyond that. But the label itself is not the most important thing. What matters is what that hearing result means to you. One patient with a hearing loss may struggle mainly in restaurants and social groups. Another might hear people perfectly well when they are sitting opposite them but struggle when somebody speaks from another room. Another person may say: “I can hear that you're talking. I just can't understand what you're saying.” That distinction between simply hearing sound and clearly understanding speech is very important. Where appropriate, we may therefore carry out additional speech, distance or listening-in-noise assessments. A family member or partner can be particularly helpful here. We may have them speak to the patient from different distances or use familiar words or speech material while we assess how the patient manages. These practical checks supplement the formal audiological testing rather than replacing it. Once we have the results, we look at them from two sides: What is happening medically? and: What effect is this having on the patient's quality of life? If somebody has a measurable hearing loss but feels they are functioning perfectly well, the next step may be different from somebody whose hearing loss is stopping them taking part in conversations, avoiding social situations or struggling every day. Where something requires medical investigation, we can advise on the appropriate next step or referral. If the hearing loss is affecting everyday life, we then talk about what can be done to help. That may include hearing aids, but the appointment should never feel like a sales pitch. There is no one hearing aid that suits everybody. HearMed works with the major hearing-aid manufacturers, including Phonak, Oticon, Signia, Widex, Starkey, ReSound, Unitron and Bernafon, which means the discussion can be based around the patient's hearing, lifestyle, preferences and budget rather than trying to force everybody into one manufacturer's product. Eligible patients may also qualify for assistance through the Department of Social Protection Treatment Benefit Scheme. As of 2026, the scheme provides eligible people with up to €500 towards each hearing aid, subject to PRSI eligibility and scheme rules. The audiologist or hearing aid dispenser can walk the patient and their family through the options from beginning to end. And if no hearing aid is needed, we tell you that too.
How Should I Prepare for a Home Audiologist Visit?
You do not need to turn your house into a hearing clinic before we arrive, but there are a few things that make a home hearing assessment much easier. The most important is finding the quietest room available. We need enough room to comfortably sit with the patient, move around them, examine their ears and position the equipment required for testing. During the hearing test itself, background noise should be kept as low as possible. That means switching off the television and radio and, where possible, avoiding rooms beside particularly noisy roads, kitchens or other busy parts of the house. Dogs, children, conversations in adjoining rooms, traffic and household appliances can all interfere with the very soft sounds we are trying to measure. Remember, the purpose of pure-tone testing is to find the quietest sound you can hear. If the room itself is louder than the sound we are trying to test, it becomes much more difficult to obtain the information we want. This is one of the biggest reasons HearMed continues to recommend clinic testing where it is practical for the patient. Ideally, the patient should have one family member, partner, friend or carer with them. We would normally encourage that person to stay for the entire appointment rather than coming in only for the results. They are part of the journey. They can help the patient feel more at ease, assist during appropriate functional listening assessments and hear the explanation of the results afterwards. That last part is often underestimated. Audiology appointments can involve quite a lot of new information. We might discuss frequencies, hearing thresholds, speech understanding, possible medical follow-up and treatment options. Even somebody with perfect hearing may only remember part of what was said. When hearing is already reduced, having another trusted person in the room can be extremely helpful. If you already use hearing aids, have them available too. Your audiologist may want to look at them, check how they are functioning or discuss how well you are currently managing with them.
When Should I Contact a GP Instead?
A home hearing test is designed to assess hearing. It is not a replacement for medical or emergency care. There are occasions where the first priority should not be arranging a routine home audiologist visit. If your hearing has suddenly disappeared or changed very rapidly — particularly if it has happened in one ear — you should seek medical advice rather than simply waiting for a routine hearing assessment. You should also seek appropriate medical advice if you have significant ear pain, blood or discharge coming from the ear, a suspected perforated eardrum, significant dizziness or vertigo, or other new symptoms that concern you. HSE guidance advises contacting a GP for symptoms including fluid, blood or discharge from the ear and hearing changes associated with ear problems. It also advises emergency assessment in particular circumstances where sudden hearing loss occurs alongside symptoms such as vertigo or facial weakness. If there is any doubt, tell HearMed exactly what is happening when you contact us. Sometimes the most useful thing an audiologist can do is tell you that a routine hearing test is not the first thing you need and point you towards the appropriate medical service.
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