If you're experiencing hearing loss, balance problems, dizziness or other ear-related symptoms, a hearing test can give your doctor a lot of insight. This test can determine which part of your ear is causing the symptoms, and what treatment options are available for you. Professional pilots, truck drivers, military personnel, police and guards are required to have annual hearing tests, and some employers also provide annual hearing screenings for employees exposed to loud or excessive noise. Understanding your test results can help you track any hearing loss you may be experiencing, or spot the beginning of a more serious condition.
Instructions
1. View your completed audiogram either on the clinician's computer screen or on a paper chart. The audiogram is a square chart with numbers along the top representing frequencies--low- and high-pitched sounds--and numbers along the left side representing decibel levels--volume of sounds. There is also a separate box indicating your right and left ear MCL and UCL, your speech recognition score--indicated as a percentage--for each ear, and your SIN score if applicable.
When you read an audiogram, imagine the tones you heard. Looking at the top left you'll see numbers representing low frequencies of 125 to 500, then the mid frequencies of 750 to 1500, and on the top right are high frequencies of 2,000 to 8,000.
Looking at the left side of your audiogram you'll see the numbers -20 to 120 along the side of the chart. These numbers are decibel levels.
The purpose of the audiogram chart is to plot the softest level at which you can hear the frequencies in each ear. The frequencies tested--250 to 8,000--encompass all human speech sounds. The decibel level at which you heard each frequency determines whether you have a hearing loss.
2. Look at the lines. The hearing in your right ear will be marked with red or black O's; the hearing in your left ear marked with blue or black X's. This allows you to see at what level you heard each frequency in each ear.
3. Look at the left side of your audiogram---the decibel side---to understand at what levels hearing loss begins. If you could hear frequencies between -20 and 25 decibels, you have normal hearing. Hearing between 25 and 50 decibels is a mild to moderate hearing loss, between 50 and 75 decibels is a moderately severe hearing loss, between 75 and 90 decibels is a severe hearing loss, and below 90 decibels is profound hearing loss to deafness.
You can have normal hearing at some frequencies and deafness at others. Using your completed audiogram, the clinician can provide you with an explanation about any questionable results.
4. Look for little marks in red and blue above or below the X's and O's on your audiogram. These marks are the results of the bone conduction pure-tone test. The bone conduction marks should be seen at about the same place on your chart as the air-conduction marks--X's and O's. If you notice bone conduction marks () way above or below the air-conduction marks on your audiogram, question the clinician. Bone-conduction results can alert you to a more serious medical condition within your ear, including a sinus infection, injured ear drum, fluid or infection behind your ear drum, tumor or growth in your middle ear, loss of middle ear bone function, or other outer- and middle-ear conditions. If your audiogram shows varied results or gaps between air conduction marks and bone conduction marks in either ear, the cause of the gap should be determined.
5. Review your speech-recognition scores. Once you've determined if you have normal hearing or a hearing loss, another important part of your audiogram is how clearly you heard words. If you have normal hearing levels your speech-recognition scores should be above 90 percent. If not, further testing may be needed to determine why.
If you have a hearing loss, speech-recognition scores tell you how much clarity or speech understanding you could expect to gain by wearing hearing aids. Low speech-recognition scores--20 percent or less--in an ear with only a moderate to severe hearing loss could be a sign of a blockage in your cranial nerve and should be checked before proceeding with any treatment for your hearing loss. A low speech-recognition score in an ear with a profound hearing loss is a sign that a hearing aid won't do much good for that ear.
Tags: hearing loss, your audiogram, between decibels, bone conduction, conduction marks
