An audiogram is a picture of your hearing sensitivity. It records the softest tones you can detect at different pitches, separately for each ear. The chart helps explain which sounds are easy to hear and which need more volume. It is a starting point for understanding your hearing, rather than a complete description of how conversations feel at home, at work, or around a restaurant table.
How to Read an Audiogram: Pitch and Loudness
The horizontal axis shows pitch, also called frequency, measured in hertz (Hz). Low pitches appear on the left; high pitches appear on the right. Think of the difference between a deep musical note and a bird’s chirp. Testing several frequencies shows whether your hearing changes evenly across pitches or whether certain parts of the sound range are harder to detect.
The vertical axis shows hearing level in decibels, written as dB HL. Softer test levels are near the top, and louder levels are farther down. A mark lower on the chart means that tone needed to be louder before you detected it. Zero dB HL is a reference based on typical hearing sensitivity, not the absence of sound. These numbers are not a percentage of hearing lost.
Red circles commonly represent the right ear and blue crosses the left, although additional symbols identify other test conditions. Dr. Erin Rushing explains the symbols on your own chart and compares the ears. Testing through earphones and, when needed, a small bone-conduction oscillator helps distinguish patterns that may involve the outer or middle ear from those involving the inner ear.
Why High-Frequency Consonants Can Disappear First
With common age-related or noise-related hearing changes, higher pitches may become harder to hear before lower pitches do. Soft consonants such as “s,” “f,” and “th” carry details that help separate words. When those details become less audible, someone may sound as though they are mumbling, even when you can clearly tell that a voice is present.
Vowels often provide more of speech’s loudness, while consonants contribute important clues to meaning. You might hear the rhythm of a sentence but miss a plural ending or confuse similar words. Turning everything up can make the voice louder without making every detail clear. Background noise adds another challenge by covering softer speech sounds. This pattern is common, but every person’s hearing loss is different.
Why a Quiet-Booth Audiogram Is Not Enough on Its Own
Detecting a beep in a quiet setting is different from following a friend while dishes clatter and nearby tables are talking. Two people with similar hearing thresholds can report very different communication difficulties. Attention, language, the listening environment, and the way the auditory system handles sound all influence the experience. Your description of everyday problems therefore matters alongside the plotted thresholds.
At Comprehensive Hearing Solutions in Houma, Dr. Erin Rushing pairs pure-tone audiograms with Speech-in-Noise testing during a 90-minute evaluation. This testing examines how you understand speech with competing sound, adding information that a quiet-booth chart alone cannot provide. Our guide to what happens during a hearing test explains how these pieces fit together.
The final 30 minutes are dedicated to reviewing your chart, results, questions, and real-world communication goals together. Bring examples: missing a grandchild’s voice, struggling during meetings, or losing track of conversation in a crowded Houma restaurant. These details help connect the measurements to the situations you want to improve and make the recommendations easier to understand.
Use Your Results to Plan the Next Step
Depending on the findings, recommendations may include monitoring, medical referral, communication strategies, hearing aids, or additional rehabilitation. An audiogram does not automatically mean you need a device. Ask which sounds you are missing, what Speech-in-Noise testing showed, and how progress will be assessed. Keep a copy of your results so future tests can be compared with this baseline. If hearing aids are recommended, your results help guide hearing aid style selection. Our OTC vs. prescription guide explains the care pathways, and Real-Ear Measurements connect the prescription to measured sound in your ears.
If conversations take more effort, schedule a comprehensive hearing evaluation in Houma. You do not need to interpret the chart before your visit. Dr. Rushing will walk through it with you and explain what the findings mean for your daily listening.
