Understanding Your Hearing Test Results: A Guide to Audiograms & Noise Tests

An audiogram is a device used to measure hearing loss and score a noise test. The audiogram equipment measures the quietest noises at different pitches and frequencies. This noise is known as thresholds and are displayed on graphs at different frequencies using the Hertz unit of sound measurement on the X-axis and the intensity, measured in decibels (dB) on the Y-axis. The Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) will administer low- to high-intensity sentences which will be scored based on the accurate reception and recitation of the sentences by the individual.

Things You'll Need

• Audiogram

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Instructions

• 1

  Find the "O" and "X" LED-light symbols on your audiogram equipment. The "X" generally represents a score for the left ear while an "O" represents the score for the right ear. Depending on your audiogram, your right and left year can also be represented by circles and squares respectively.

• 2

  Locate the threshold range on your audiogram. As you perform the test, the threshold range will continue to increase. The lower the threshold number is on the audiogram before you cease to hear a noise, the greater your hearing loss becomes. The normal threshold rangers from 0 dB to 20 dB. If your threshold number is greater than 20 dB, you may have a minor or severe case of hearing loss.

• 3

  Perform the test by repeating each sentence generated through the audiogram. The tester will score each repeated sentence as correct or incorrect. The score is calculated by using the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which measures how loud the signal needs to be increased for the person to repeat the sentence correctly. The hearing noise test is then scored as "pass" or "fail" during each testing condition.