An audiogram is used to plot the softest sounds you are able to hear and forms a
graphical representation of a your hearing health. The amount of information recorded
on an audiogram will vary based on how many tests your examiner chooses to
perform. This section is designed to give you a basic understanding in reading an
audiogram and understanding audiogram results.
Reading an Audiogram?
The air-conduction exam (the test when you are wearing headphones and listening to
beeps) is presented at 250Hz, 500 Hz, 1000Hz, 1500Hz, 2000Hz, 3000Hz, 4000Hz,
6000Hz and 8000Hz. These numbers (measured in Hz) represent the frequencies
(pitches) of the sounds presented during air-conduction testing. They can be thought
of as keys on a piano ranging from the bass notes (250 Hz) to the treble notes (8000
Hz).
On the left and right side of the graph below there are numbers from -10 to 110. These
numbers (measured in dB) represent the intensity (loudness) of the sound presented.
What the symbols on the graph mean:
The symbols represent the quietest level you responded at each frequency (pitch)
during the hearing test.
The audiogram results above illustrates a high frequency hearing loss. We would
categorize this hearing loss as: Normal hearing in the low tones, sloping to a severe
hearing loss in the middle and high frequencies. The above high frequency hearing
loss is best fit with an Open-fit hearing aid, meaning our SmartAid Digital and
SmartAid Digital Premium are the best choices.
Categories of Hearing
Normal Hearing
Mild Hearing Loss
Moderate Hearing Loss
Moderately-Severe Hearing
Loss
Severe Hearing Loss
Profound Hearing Loss
Your audiogram may show additional information that isn't plotted on the audiogram
above. This information can explain more detail about how your ear works, but isn't
utilized when we program your hearing aids. This information may include:
Bone Conduction
Speech Reception
(SRT)
Most Comfortable
Level (MCL)
Uncomfortable level
(UCL)
The audiograms below show bilateral (both ears) age related hearing loss. With age
related hearing loss a person can usually hear low-pitched sounds better than highpitched sounds. Clarity of sound is affected - 'I can tell that someone is talking but
cannot understand what they have said'.
(a) Right sided age related hearing loss (presbyacusis)
So, if you have a moderate sensorineural unilateral hearing loss caused by infectious
parotitis dont panic. It is just the medical way of saying you have nerve deafness in
one ear caused by mumps and have problems hearing sounds which are quieter than
41dB.
Please do not be afraid to ask the ENT doctor or audiologist to explain your hearing
chart to you
This right ear has a mild loss. Note that all the thresholds by air conduction are
in the range of 30 to 40 dB HL. Hearing thresholds in the range of 26-40 indicate
a mild hearing loss.
The loss is conductive. We know this because the bone conduction thresholds are
within the normal range.
When the audiologist describes this audiogram, he or she would say The right
ear has a mild, flat conductive loss. The audiologist would not separately
describe the severity of the bone conduction scores in the report, even though
this is part of the thought process you go through when deciding on the type of
loss. Flat refers to the audiometric configuration. The thresholds are
relatively equal across frequencies.
This left ear has a sensorineural loss. In the low frequencies (1000 Hz and
below), the loss is mild. In the high frequencies the loss is moderate to
moderately severe.
Note that at 2000 Hz the threshold is 55 dB HL, which is in the moderate
category. The 60 dB HL threshold is moderately severe. When thresholds cross
a category boundary, list both when describing the severity of the loss.
The loss is sensorineural because there are no significant air-bone gaps. There is
essentially equal loss by air and by bone conduction.
The audiologist would describe this as a mild, gradually sloping to moderately
severe sensorineural loss. Gradually sloping means that most of the thresholds
go down by 5 to 15 dB each octave.
This left ear has a mixed loss. The loss ranges from moderate in the low
frequencies, to severe in the high frequencies and is gradually sloping.
In examining the audiogram, ask yourself
q Is there a loss?
q Is the bone conduction normal?
q Are there any air-bone gaps?
Because bone conduction is not normal, we know that at least part of the loss is
sensorineural. Because there are significant (larger than 10 dB) air-bone gaps,
there is a conductive component. Because both a conductive and sensorineural
component exist in the same ear, the loss is mixed.
The audiologist might say The moderate, sloping to severe mixed loss has airbone gaps of 20-30 dB across the frequency range.
The right ear has a mixed loss. The loss is moderate in the low frequencies,
improving to mild in the mid frequencies, and decreasing to moderately severe to
severe in the high frequencies.
In answering the questions:
q Is there a loss?
q Is the bone conduction normal?
q Are there any air-bone gaps?
You will note that the air-bone gaps are not at each frequency, but only in the low
frequencies. In the mid to high frequencies, the loss is sensorineural. When one
ear has both a conductive component and a sensorineural component, the loss is
mixed. The conductive and sensorineural components do not have to be at the
same frequency, just the same ear.
The audiologist might say This mixed loss is mild to moderately severe, with
best hearing in the mid frequencies. The conductive component is restricted to
the low frequencies.
SensoriConductive
neural
Loss
Loss
Air conduction
thresholds(normal LOSS
or loss?)
Mixed Loss
LOSS
LOSS
Bone conduction
thresholds (normal NORMAL LOSS
or loss?)
LOSS
Air-bone gap
None or
(significant or not Significant not
Significant
significant)
significant
Location of
problem
Inner ear
Outer or
or retromiddle ear
cochlear
Partially
outer/middle;
part
inner/retro
What is masking?
Why is it used?
Masking is sound presented to the non-test ear to keep it busy, keep it from
hearing the sound presented to the test ear. The sound is a noise, which sounds
like static, but has tonality. By properly presenting masking noise to the non-test
ear, you can be sure that you are testing the ear to which the pure tone is
presented.
Once you have memorized the X and O for left and right, it may help you to
remember the symbols if you think that the triangle (the masked right ear
symbol) fits within the circle (the unmasked right ear symbol), and that an X fits
in a box
.
The right ear has a slight to mild loss in the low frequencies (250-500 Hz), above
that point the loss slopes from moderate to severe. The loss is sensorineural.
The left ear has a moderate loss through 500 Hz, and a moderately severe,
sloping to profound loss above that point.
The audiologist would probably focus on the asymmetry between the ears, and
might say: An asymmetrical, sensorineural loss was found. The better right
ear has a sloping loss, ranging from slight to profound. The left ear thresholds
are worse for the low and mid frequencies, where the loss is moderate to
moderately severe.
What is the type of loss and extent of loss for each ear?
Most patient have audiograms that are symmetrical; both ears have similar
thresholds. But that would be boring for you to interpret, so you will tend to see
asymmetrical losses in this practice set!
The right ear has normal hearing until 1000 Hz. In the high frequencies, the loss
ranges from mild to moderate and is sensorineural.
The left ear has a mild to moderately severe mixed loss. The loss is gently
sloping.
There is a moderately severe to severe, relatively flat loss in this right ear. A
conductive component to the loss at 250 Hz cannot be ruled out; the threshold at
by bone conduction may be vibrotactile.
There are two possibilities either the bone conduction hearing threshold is at
(or near) 35 dB HL, in which case there is a conductive component at 250 Hz and
the loss is mixed or the 250 Hz bone conduction threshold was just a threshold
of feeling, and if you could have established the true hearing threshold it might
have been near 60 dB HL, in which case the loss would be sensorineural.
Just looking at the audiogram, you cannot rule out a conductive portion to the
loss at 250 Hz. (However, other tests such as tympanometry and acoustic reflex
testing would help make the determination.)
What does a no-response symbol mean,
and what do they look like?
A no-response symbol means that the audiologist presented the signal at that
intensity, but the signal was not heard.
No response symbols have the appearance of the usual symbol, but then have an
arrow off the bottom. The arrow points to the left for right ear symbols, and to
This is a precipitously sloping high frequency sensorineural loss. Why can the
audiologist say it is definitely sensorineural and not consider the possiblility of a
4000 Hz air-bone gap? That takes some careful thinking.
Remember that an air-bone gap must be at least 15 dB to be significant. The 70
dB HL bone conduction signal was not heard. If the audiometer could have
made the sound louder, perhaps 75 dB HL could have been heard. That is the
lowest threshold that is possible for this person. If that happened, then the airbone gap would only be 10 dB, and that would not be a significant gap.
Remember that slight gaps (like the left ears 10 dB air-bone gap at 2000 Hz, and
the 5 dB bone-air gap at 250 Hz in the left ear) are not meaningful
The right ear in this audiogram has a precipitously sloping hearing loss above
250 Hz, where the loss ranges from mild to profound. The loss is most likely
sensorineural, but a conductive component restricted to 4000 Hz cannot be ruled
out. There is a possibility this loss is mixed. Note, the gap between the bone
conduction limit symbol at 4kHz and the air conduction symbol is 25 dB HL. If
the patient could have been tested at 75 dB HL, perhaps that would have been
heard. If that had happened, then there would be an air-bone gap of 20 dB HL,
which would have been significant. (However, true air-bone gaps that occur only
in the highest frequencies are pretty rare, so if you had to bet, guess
sensorineural!)
Note that, although there is a 25 dB gap between 250 and 500 Hz there is no
interoctave frequency that can be tested. Audiometers do not have an
interoctave frequency between 125 and 250 or 250 and 500 Hz. The dashed lines
.on the audiogram note the testable interoctave frequencies