Audiograms will play an important role in your child's life from here
on out. Your child's audiogram will inevitably come up in
conversations with your audiologist. It will be used as a reference
for how well hearing aids are working, how well progress is being made,
etc.
What is an Audiogram ?
An audiogram is a graphical representation of what
sounds your child can hear. Simplistically, it indicates how loud a
sound must be in a particular frequency before your child will hear it.
How do you read an audiogram?
The X-axis (the six vertical lines) represents
frequency, with very deep, low sounds at the far left, and very high
pitched sounds at the right.
The Y-axis (the several horizontal lines, from 0 to
110) represent volume of the sound. The higher on the chart (lower
the number) the softer the sound. The lower on the chart (higher the
number) the louder the sound. The dark gray area represents normal
hearing - in the range from 0 to 20 decibels in all measured
frequencies. In children, this area can be condensed even more, to
the range from 0 to 10 decibels.
There are four levels of hearing loss on this
chart: Mild (20-35 db), Moderate (36-50 db), Moderate/Severe (51-70 db),
Severe (71-90 db), and
Profound (above 90 db)
The two lines (red and blue) with 0's and X's on them
represent the hearing of a person. The X-line represents left-ear
hearing, and the O-line represents right-ear hearing. In this case,
the two ears follow a very similar line, but this is not always the
case. This audiogram indicates that the person hears close to normal
in the very lowest frequency, but quickly drops to Severe-to-Profound
hearing loss in both ears.
For more information on audiograms, including the "Speech
Banana", visit ****'s webpage.
