Pure Tone Audiometry Test: What Your Audiogram Means
TL: DR; This blog is primarily written for patients, caregivers, and families who are trying to understand hearing difficulties, pure tone audiometry test results, and what an audiogram means before seeking audiology care. Pure-tone audiometry tests hearing: by measuring how well you hear different pitches and volumes. Your audiogram shows results: It maps your hearing levels across low to high frequencies. Hearing thresholds matter: They show whether your hearing is normal, minimal, mild, moderate, severe, or profoundly reduced. It identifies hearing loss type: Results can suggest conductive, sensorineural, or mixed hearing loss. It guides treatment decisions: Your audiogram helps decide if you need medical care, hearing aids, or further evaluation. Get checked at Ear360 clinics: Visit Ear360 clinics if you notice tinnitus, muffled hearing, loud TV volume, or trouble hearing conversations. It is not always obvious that someone is losing their hearing. These can sometimes start with little things, such as making people repeat themselves, turning up the television volume, difficulty understanding what people say in noisy environments, or feeling really tired after listening all day. The changes can be baffling, particularly if you’re not sure whether they’re temporary, due to age, noise, or something that should be treated. This is where a pure tone audiometry test can come in handy. Helps to give a clear idea of how well you hear the various sounds and pitches, and the results are displayed on a chart called an audiogram. We believe that when patients are informed, they make better choices about their health, and that is why we are ResonnoCare. This article covers what happens during a pure-tone audiology test, what the results might mean, and what to do next. What Is Pure Tone Audiometry? Pure tone audiometry quantifies auditory sensitivity to sound frequency in hearing assessments. For audiologists, this helps assess the presence, configuration, and severity of hearing loss. This also pinpoints frequency impact. You are made to listen to tones of different frequencies and volumes through a bone vibrator. Tones are presented one at a time. You respond to each tone by pressing a button, and this is done for each tone at each frequency. Hearing threshold is defined as the softest tone that is detected 50% of the time. The pure tone audiometry test is noninvasive and painless. The test takes 20 to 30 minutes. The assessment is conducted for individuals as young as 5 and serves as the basis for many other auditory assessments. What Does an Audiogram Show? A pure-tone audiometry test produces a graph called an audiogram. At first, this chart may seem daunting, but it will be very easy to understand once you learn what you’re reading. Frequency or pitch is plotted on the horizontal axis, in units of Hertz (Hz). The range of frequencies is from 250Hz (low-pitched sounds, such as a rumble) to 8000Hz (high-pitched sounds, such as a whistle or a bird call). This frequency range is of great importance clinically because human speech is in the range of 500Hz-4000Hz. Loudness is shown on the vertical axis in dB Hearing Level (dB HL). Typically, it will range from 10 dB (very soft) at the top to 120 dB (extremely loud) at the bottom. The lower the mark on the audiogram, the louder a sound must be for you to hear it, and the greater the hearing loss. The thresholds on the audiogram are indicated by symbols for each ear: O (red) = right ear thresholds X (blue) = left ear thresholds [ and ] = bone conduction thresholds (help determine type of hearing loss). The thresholds for all frequencies tested on a normal audiogram are between 0 and 25 dB. Numbers higher than this indicate hearing loss of varying degrees. How Is the Degree of Hearing Loss Classified? One of the most significant things your pure tone audiometry results will show is how severe your hearing loss is. This is usually classified as: Minimal (16 to 25 dB HL): Difficulty hearing faint or distant speech, particularly in noisy environments. Mild (26 to 40 dB HL): Difficulty with everyday sounds that doesn’t interfere very much with everyday activities Moderate (41 to 55 dB HL): Needs to be heard by others at close range, such as when someone is talking quietly; difficulty hearing in noisy environments Moderate (41-55 dB HL): A hearing aid is required for normal conversation to be heard most of the time. Moderately Severe (56-70 dB HL): Needs to hear speech with loud volumes; group conversations are very difficult Severely hearing impaired (71-90 dB HL): Loud sounds and shouted speech may be heard, but not usual or conversational speech Low (91-100 dB HL): Not much ability to hear unaided or with minimal assistance (such as hearing aids or implants) Understanding the extent of your loss helps our team at Resonnocare guide you toward the most appropriate intervention, whether that is monitoring, a hearing aid fitting, or a referral for further specialist care. What Type of Hearing Loss Do You Have? Pure-tone audiometry is more than a measurement of your hearing loss. It can also assist your doctor in determining the cause of your hearing loss and in choosing the appropriate intervention or support. Conductive hearing loss is due to impaired transmission of sound through the outer or middle ear to the inner ear. This could be because of the earwax blockage, the accumulation of fluid behind the eardrum, a hole in the eardrum, or a problem with the small bones in the middle ear. Bone conduction is often normal, and air conduction is decreased on an audiogram. Medical or surgical therapies can improve conductive hearing loss in some instances. Sensorineural hearing loss happens when there is damage to the hearing cells in the inner ear or to the hearing nerve. This is the most common type of hearing loss in adults. Can be associated with prolonged noise exposure or age. Air conduction and bone conduction are both decreased on an audiogram. This type of hearing loss is typically permanent;
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