If you’ve had a hearing test recently, your results were presented on a chart known as an audiogram. This chart might look somewhat confusing at first, but it’s actually a visual representation of what you’re able to hear, and the symbols it uses aren’t hard to learn. Let’s break down how to read an audiogram.
The Grid
As with any grid, an audiogram uses two axes to plot points: a horizontal (x-axis) and a vertical (y-axis). Using these two axes, you can plot any sound a human ear can hear onto the graph.
The vertical axis measures volume, quantified in decibels (dB). Quiet sounds are at the top, and loud sounds are at the bottom. This may seem counterintuitive, since most graphs grow from the bottom, not the top, but since audiograms always show the same range of volume and do not grow infinitely like other graphs, it’s aligned with the way we perceive sounds in the real world, and easier on the eyes to read from the top down.
The horizontal axis shows pitch, measured in Hertz (Hz). Low pitches are on the left, and high pitches are on the right. Picture a piano: the lower notes are on the left, and the higher notes are on the right.
The Plot Points on the Grid
During your hearing test, you heard several pitches at different volumes and indicated what you could hear. This process discovers your hearing thresholds, or the quietest volume at which you can hear certain pitches. Your hearing thresholds are what’s plotted on the audiogram grid. Every plot point shows the quietest volume at which you can hear that pitch.
Also, there will be two plot points for each pitch: one for your right ear and one for your left. The hearing thresholds of your right ear will be marked with a red “o,” and the hearing thresholds of the left ear will be marked with a blue “x.”
What You Can Hear
By looking at the plot points illustrating your hearing threshold, you are able to see what you can hear and what you can’t, and determine if your hearing loss is slight, mild, moderate, severe or profound. The lower down on the graph your plot points are, the more severe your hearing loss. Typically, the normal hearing range is defined as being able to hear sounds as low as 0 to 10 dB.
Spanning the top third of the grid (about 125–6,000 Hz by 10–70 dB) is a zone known as the “speech banana,” so named because it’s approximately the shape of a banana and encompasses all consonant and vowel sounds used in human speech. Many audiograms will include an overlay of the speech banana. If your hearing thresholds are plotted below the speech banana, that means you will probably struggle to hear human speech at conversational volumes.
Do You Need Hearing Aids?
If your hearing thresholds show that your hearing loss is in the mild, moderate, severe or profound range, your audiologist will probably start a conversation with you about hearing loss treatment and hearing aids. Hearing aids work by collecting sound waves with a microphone and amplifying them into your ear through a speaker, and they can be programmed to amplify certain pitches more than others based on your hearing thresholds for each pitch. In so doing, they can effectively have sounds meet you where your hearing thresholds are, allowing you to hear clearly. If you have any more questions on how to read your results and what they mean for your hearing health and potential hearing loss treatment, please feel free to contact us at The House Institute. We’re happy to walk you through!