After a hearing test, you may be handed a graph filled with lines, symbols, numbers, and abbreviations. That graph is called an audiogram, and at first glance, it can be difficult to know what you’re looking at.
An audiogram provides a visual picture of your hearing across different pitches and volume levels. While learning the basics can help you make sense of your results, you don’t need to interpret the graph on your own. At Fraser Valley Beltone, we review your audiogram with you, explain what your results mean, and answer your questions before discussing any next steps.
Here’s how to understand the main parts of your hearing test results.
What Is an Audiogram?
An audiogram is a graph that shows the softest sounds you can hear at different frequencies. These points are known as your hearing thresholds.
During a comprehensive hearing test, you’ll listen for tones at different pitches and volumes. Your responses help your hearing care professional identify your thresholds and plot them on the audiogram.
Reading the graph starts with two measurements: frequency and decibels.
What Do Frequencies Mean on an Audiogram?
Across the horizontal axis of an audiogram, you’ll see frequencies measured in Hertz (Hz). Frequency refers to the pitch of a sound.
Lower frequencies appear on the left side of the graph and represent lower-pitched sounds. Higher frequencies appear toward the right and represent higher-pitched sounds. Conventional hearing tests commonly assess frequencies from about 250 Hz to 8,000 Hz.
ASHA explains how frequencies are assessed during pure-tone hearing testing.
Why does that matter in everyday life? Speech contains many different frequencies. If your hearing is better at some frequencies than others, you may hear that someone is speaking but have difficulty making out certain parts of what they’re saying.
That’s one reason hearing loss doesn’t always feel like everything has simply become quieter.
What Do Decibels Mean on an Audiogram?
The vertical axis shows hearing level in decibels (dB HL). On a typical audiogram, softer levels appear toward the top and louder levels appear farther down.
Each mark plotted on the graph represents the softest level at which you responded to a particular frequency during testing.
This means that, unlike many graphs, a point farther down isn’t a “better” result. If a sound needed to be presented at a higher hearing level before you could detect it, the threshold will appear lower on the audiogram.
You may also see hearing levels described with terms such as slight, mild, moderate, severe, or profound. These classifications help hearing professionals describe the degree of hearing loss, but your individual results need to be considered as a whole rather than reduced to a single label.
What Do the Symbols on an Audiogram Mean?
Audiograms use different symbols to record results for each ear and different types of testing.
For standard air-conduction testing, you’ll commonly see:
- O for the right ear
- X for the left ear
You may also see brackets, arrows, triangles, squares, or other symbols. These can represent results from bone-conduction testing, masked testing, or situations where no response was detected at the equipment’s testing limit. Professional audiogram standards use these symbols to distinguish between ears and testing conditions.
You don’t need to memorize them. Your hearing care professional can show you which marks represent each ear and explain why different tests were used.
What Does the Shape of Your Audiogram Tell You?
Once your hearing thresholds are plotted, the points create a pattern across the graph. Hearing professionals refer to this as the configuration, or shape, of your hearing loss.
For example, thresholds may remain relatively similar across frequencies, creating a flatter pattern. In other cases, hearing may be better at lower frequencies and decrease as the frequencies become higher, producing a sloping pattern.
Your two ears may also produce similar results, or there may be differences between them.
The shape matters because two people can both have hearing loss while experiencing it differently. Your hearing care professional will consider the overall pattern alongside your other test results and the hearing difficulties you experience in daily life.
What Happens When We Review Your Hearing Test Results?
When we review your results, we take the time to learn about your lifestyle, hearing concerns, health and hearing history before completing your testing. Our comprehensive assessments can include a visual examination of your ears, air- and bone-conduction testing, and speech understanding tests. Afterward, we’ll show you your audiogram and walk through the results with you.
During that conversation, we can help you understand:
- Which frequencies you hear clearly and where hearing has changed
- Whether one ear differs from the other
- How your results may relate to the difficulties you’ve noticed
- What your other hearing-test results show
- Whether monitoring or another next step is appropriate
If hearing aids may be appropriate, we’ll explain your options based on your hearing needs and lifestyle. If you don’t need them, there’s no obligation to purchase anything.
An Audiogram Is Only Part of Your Hearing Assessment
Knowing how to read an audiogram can make your hearing test results feel much less confusing. But the graph doesn’t tell the whole story by itself.
How well you understand speech, where you have difficulty hearing, your hearing and health history, and your everyday listening environments all provide important context. That’s why we take a personalized approach rather than looking at one number or point on a graph.
If you’ve noticed changes in your hearing or simply want a clearer picture of your hearing health, we offer free, comprehensive hearing tests at our Fraser Valley clinics.
You can visit us in Langley, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, or Fort Langley.
Book your free hearing test and we’ll take the time to explain your results, answer your questions, and help you understand what comes next.
Topics: Hearing Tests
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