ARA - Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology

Understanding Your Audiogram

An audiogram displays the softest sounds you are able to detect. The pitches increase from left to right, much like a piano. The vertical axis shows loudness of sound, with the softest sounds at the top and the loudest sounds at the bottom.

Your right ear is represented with a circle and your left is represented by an X.

The classification of hearing loss is shown above. The most important sounds for speech are 500-4000 Hz, as demonstrated below. You receive your meaning of words from the higher pitched sounds, therefore someone with a high-frequency hearing loss will have trouble understanding speech. As we age, the higher pitches tend to diminish first. Hearing loss related to aging is called presbycusis.

For more information, go to: http://www.audiology.org/aboutaudiology/consumered/guides/audiogram.htm