Measuring hearing loss is more complex than it might at first seem. If you’re suffering from hearing loss, you can most likely hear certain things clearly at a lower volume, but not others. You may confuse particular letters like “S” or “B”, but hear other letters just fine at whatever volume. It will become more apparent why you notice inconsistencies with your hearing when you figure out how to read your hearing test. It’s because there’s more to hearing than simply cranking up the volume.
When I get my audiogram, how do I decipher it?
An audiogram is a type of hearing test that hearing professionals utilize to ascertain how you hear. It would be wonderful if it looked as simple as a scale from one to ten, but sadly, that isn’t the case.
Many individuals find the graph format confusing at first. But you too can understand a hearing test if you know what you’re looking at.
Looking at volume on an audiogram
Along the left side of the graph is the volume in Decibels (dB) from 0 (silent) to around 120 (thunder). The higher the number, the louder the sound needs to be for you to be able to hear it.
If you can’t hear any sound until it is around 30 dB then you’re dealing with mild hearing loss which is a loss of sound between 26 and 45 dB. If hearing begins at 45-65 dB then you have moderate hearing loss. If you start hearing at between 66 and 85 dB then it means you’re dealing with severe hearing loss. If you are unable to hear sound until it reaches 90 dB or more (louder than the volume of a running lawnmower), it means that you’re dealing with profound hearing loss.
The frequency portion of your audiogram
You hear other things besides volume also. You can also hear a range of frequencies or pitches of sound. Frequencies help you distinguish between types of sounds, and this includes the letters of the alphabet.
On the bottom of the chart, you’ll usually see frequencies that a human ear can detect, starting from a low frequency of 125 (lower than a bullfrog) to a high frequency of 8000 (higher than a cricket)
This test will let us figure out how well you can hear within a span of wavelengths.
So if you’re dealing with hearing loss in the higher wavelengths, you may need the volume of high frequency sounds to be as high as 60 dB (the volume of somebody talking at an elevated volume). The graph will plot the volumes that the different frequencies will need to reach before you can hear them.
Why tracking both volume and frequency is so significant
So in the real world, what could the outcome of this test mean for you? Here are a few sounds that would be harder to hear if you have the very prevalent form of high frequency hearing loss:
- Whispers, even if hearing volume is good
- Music
- “F”, “H”, “S”
- Birds
- Higher pitched voices like women and children tend to have
- Beeps, dings, and timers
While a person who has high-frequency hearing loss has more trouble with high-frequency sounds, some frequencies might seem easier to hear than others.
Inside of your inner ear you have tiny hair-like nerve cells that move with sounds. If the cells that pick up a certain frequency become damaged and eventually die, you will lose your ability to hear that frequency at lower volumes. If all of the cells that pick up that frequency are damaged, then you completely lose your ability to hear that frequency regardless of volume.
Communicating with other people can become extremely frustrating if you’re dealing with this type of hearing loss. Your family members could think they have to yell at you in order to be heard even though you only have difficulty hearing particular wavelengths. And higher frequency sounds, such as your sister talking to you, often get drowned out by background noise for individuals who have this type of hearing loss.
We can utilize the hearing test to individualize hearing solutions
We will be able to custom tune a hearing aid for your specific hearing needs once we’re able to understand which frequencies you’re having trouble hearing. Contemporary hearing aids have the ability to know precisely what frequencies go into the microphone. It can then make that frequency louder so you’re able to hear it. Or it can use its frequency compression feature to change the frequency to one you can better hear. In addition, they can improve your ability to process background noise.
This creates a smoother more normal hearing experience for the hearing aid user because instead of just making everything louder, it’s meeting your unique hearing needs.
Make an appointment for a hearing test right away if you think you may be dealing with hearing loss. We can help.