Understanding the audiogram.
During hearing tests, audiologists record information onto an audiogram, which is a visual
illustration that shows your
child's hearing ability. It records the softest sound your child can hear, or hearing threshold.
It shows the pitch or
frequency that is measured in hertz (Hz) and the loudness in decibels (dB).
Your child's audiologist will plot your child's hearing loss using "X" or ">" for the left ear in
blue and "O" or "," for the right ear in red. A normal hearing person can detect very soft
sounds at 20 dB or less, like a whisper, to a very loud sound
of 120 dB, like an airplane. Having access to these sounds is critical in order for your child
to learn speech.
The highlighted area on the audiograms represent the "speech banana", which is where the
frequencies of consonants and
vowels fall in the spectrum of sound. Pictures and letters represent the sounds you can
typically hear at different
volume and frequency levels, and the sounds above the red and blue lines cannot be heard.
When an audiologist tests your child's hearing, they identify the air-bone gap. The air-bone gap
is determined by the difference (or gap) between results of air conduction and bone conduction
tests. A greater gap illustrates a higher level of conductive hearing loss.