Hearing Tests and Your Audiogram

Understanding an Audiogram
An audiogram is a map of your hearing capabilities that shows the range of pitches or frequencies that you’re able to hear with each ear, and at what intensity level you’re able to hear them. Frequency is measured in hertz, which we perceive as pitch. Intensity is measured in decibels, and is perceived as loudness.

To take this test, you’ll wear headphones and possibly sit in a sound booth so that any ambient noise is minimized. Your hearing professional will likely use an audiometer, a machine that produces pure tones of different frequencies and intensities. Then you’ll be asked to listen, first with one ear, and then the other, to a series of pure tones, signaling when you hear each tone. The tones begin to decrease in intensity levels until you can no longer hear them—a point known as your “hearing threshold.” The audiogram plots your hearing threshold at various frequencies from 250 to 8000, the range that is characteristic of human speech.

Spoken Word Tests
These tests measure the ability to hear and distinguish actual words. In a speech test, you’ll be asked to listen to and repeat a series of words, first at decreasing and then at varied sound levels. The information gathered helps determine your speech threshold, or the softest levels at which you can hear speech, as well as how well you can discriminate between words at different frequencies.