Measuring children's hearing loss

Hearing tests measure which sounds your child can and can't hear. To have their hearing measured properly, you should take them to see a health care professional, or audiologist. They will test your child's responses to different tones, or frequencies, and record the results on a graph called an audiogram.

This helps to determine if your child has a hearing loss, what type of hearing loss they may have and even helps your health care professional suggest the best treatment options.

Hearing loss is measured in decibels hearing level (or dBHL). It describes how difficult it is for your child to hear conversational speech in each ear.

The amount of hearing loss someone has is ranked as mild, moderate, severe, or profound.

• Normal hearing
  Hear quiet sounds down to 20 dBHL.

• Mild hearing loss
  Hearing loss in the better ear between 25 - 39 dBHL.
  Have difficulty following speech in noisy situations.

• Moderate hearing loss
  Hearing loss in the better ear between 40 - 69 dBHL
  Have difficulty following speech without a hearing aid.

• Severe hearing loss
  Hearing loss in the better ear between 70 - 89 dBHL.
  Require powerful hearing aids or an implant.

• Profound hearing loss
  Hearing loss in the better ear from 90 dBHL.
  Need to rely mainly on lip-reading and/or sign language, or an implant.

The type and severity of a child's hearing loss depends on which parts of the ear don't work and how badly they are damaged.