Audiogram and Other Hearing Test Results

Consider me jealous, I wish my hearing test looked that good. According to audiologists and ENTs that I have seen, frequency fluctuations between 0 to 20 decibels fall within normal hearing changes. Especially as we age, even if we're relatively young.

Here is a link that explains far better than I can how to read your audiogram:

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/otol.../hearing-testing/understanding-audiogram.html

Was this your first hearing test? I have had way too many and they drive me crazy.

 

I have never taken much interest in audiograms @danimadss and just rely on my ENT doctor and Hearing Therapist for the results. I have had quite a few hearing tests over the years and thankfully I've been told I have above average hearing. However, having no hearing loss doesn't mean one cannot have tinnitus. The important thing is being referred to a Hearing Therapist or Audiologist for tinnitus management and treatment if you are finding habituation difficult. Your ENT doctor might have told you to leave things alone for a while? If you have been told this then it's not such a bad idea, as many people habituate to tinnitus within the first 6 months to 1 years from the onset of tinnius without any treatment at all.

It all depends how you are coping. Some people may require tinnitus counselling and a referral to the health professionals that I've mentioned can be very helpful.
Michael

 

I've always been told by audiologists that normal hearing is from 0 - 25 dbs, while ENTs tell me normal is 0 - 20. Does anyone who is correct?

 

There is some discrepancy of opinion between what is considered mild hearing loss.

I've also been told the exact same two things as yourself at various points.

My most recent audiologist was very young and only two years out of training and she goes by the 20dB rule so I'm assuming that is the current standard (in the UK at least); that anything above 20dB should be considered mild hearing loss; anything above 45dB (I think it is) is considered moderate loss and it goes in different amounts up to profound loss.

I'm profoundly deaf across all frequencies in my right ear (I don't register anywhere on the scale) and have mild loss (25dB) in the lower and higher frequencies in my left ear.

I'm 45 and eleven years ago my hearing was almost exactly like yours in my left ear. This level of hearing is considered normal. Anything below 0dB is considered excellent.

I think I did have some frequencies in the excellent range back then.

I could post my audiogram if you were interested in comparing the similarities or differences. You almost have to read the graph upside down because the increase in decibels is plotted down the graph.

 

What do you guys make of this? The O is right ear and the X is left.

 

I was trying to post and this moved.

Anyway. . . you have very normal hearing below 8k. Any fluctuations from 0 to 20k are considered within normal range. I have a 70 dB drop in my hearing in one ear, now that's not normal.

Some audiologists test hearing above 8k, but be aware that if you do that, hearing loss in higher ranges is normal as we age -- even in our 20s and 30s. What to look for in higher ranges is large drops (like from 20k at one frequency to 70k at the next frequency) or discrepancies between ears. For example, if at 12.5hz one ear is 25k but the other is 70k -- that's what my chart looks like.

 

So my T can still be due to hearing loss or is it less likely given these results?

 

It's not from hearing loss below 8k. Without a high frequency hearing test, it's not really possible to say if you have hearing loss.

 

Yesterday I had a check up because since a couple of weeks my tinnitus got worse in my right ear.

They said my hearing is good for my age.

But wonder why my tinnitus is that loud?

 

What kind of hearing loss have I?

Is there any hope to recover? I’m 36

 

Isn't the audiologist who did the test the one that's supposed to tell you?

 

One of them told me trasmissive, another neurosansorial.

 

Hello @Alvise ,

Did it just happen over night?
How long ago?

 

You have BOTH (we call it "mixed losses", ie conductive + sensorineural). You can clearly see an air-bone gap on your audiogram: 15 dB @ 1000 Hz.
I had something similar when I was diagnosed with Otosclerosis. Did you have fluid in your ear when you did the hearing test?
Did you do any other tests? (fork tests, ie Rinne/Weber, CT, MRI, etc)

 

21/02/2017

 

They told me I have not othosclerosis.
And no, no fluid in ear. I dunno how to know if I had fluid. And I do not think I have fluid since 9 month ago

 

Yes over night (last february). Why?

 

My initial scan (10/03) after sudden overnight hearing loss in my left ear, pretty bleak, and then my most recent from last week (much improved). This is after steroids (prednisone and intratympanic) and 23 sessions of HBOT(started on 10/24). Major improvement, although feels like it is stalled at this point. No real change in the last 3 weeks. Hoping it will creep back over time, at least to the point where I could get a hearing aid.

Anybody out there with similar losses have a complete recovery?

 

Hello,

I have a mild Tonal Tinnitus for 1 year. Nothing very worrisome, most of the time did not cause any discomfort.
However things got much worse after a exostosis removal surgery, on my right ear.
My Tinnitus increased the volume and a very Somatic Pulsatile Tinnitus joined the party. The surgery was 6 months ago and to be honest I can not sense any real improvement on the last months.

The last ENT I visited, suggested the new Tinnitus was caused by noise trauma suffered during the surgery.

Looking at my audiograms what is your opinion?

Simple Audiogram - Left


Simple Audiogram - Right


High Frequency - Right


High Frequency Left:


Thank you

 

You have some high frequency loss which can explain your tinnitus.

 

Hi - thanks for the high resolution scans.
You seem to have some losses in the high frequencies. Perhaps that's the root cause for your T.
Very small air-bone gap so likely good conduction by middle ear.

Question: in the HF right graph, what is the legend for the black circles around 40 dB and the red "M" signs around 110-120 dB?

 

Forgot to say, but I have 40y old.
I thought the audiograms looked normal for my age

The legend for those black circles is 'Pure Tone".

 

I guess I don't understand what the difference is - looking at HF right - between the top red line (which includes air and bone conduction marks with the typical bracket signs), the one below in black, and the one below in red. They're all supposed to be "pure tone audiometry". Perhaps the bottom one marked with an M means "masked"?

Sometimes 2 different charts are combined into one (left + right) - but in this case we're 0nly looking at the right ear, so they must mean different things.

 

This is my hearing test results that the ENT did back in December of last year, he said my hearing was great.
Does anyone know how to read this?
And what does it mean?

 

You have perfect hearing as far as I can see...

 

You have normal hearing in the speech frequency range, 0-8 kHz. You have (or had) a type C tympanometry test for the left ear (which is indicative of a Eustachian tube dysfunction). Presumably, your ENT followed up on this via a later assessment...

Speech discrimination testing can perhaps be useful (incl. speech-in-noise testing). But people who have problems following conversations are normally already aware of that to some degree (by the time they get tested). Audiological assessments can only do so much and are really only intended for testing hearing (and not diagnosing tinnitus).

For a tinnitus diagnosis, patient history is the way to go (i.e. reviewing your history of noise exposure, ototoxic medication, illnesses, and (head) trauma). This will provide you with the clues.

 

It's hidden hearing loss, I have it too, noise induced from air horn and speakers. It may show up later (10 - 20 years) in the standard audiogram.

 

Did you had fluid behind your eardrums? You have a c type tympanogram curve and a gap between conductive and sensorineural hearing.
By the way do you know how to request such a test? I had pressure behind my ears but they checked only my sensorineural hearing. My tympanogram curve was type a at the time. I guess I'm gonna switch profession and become an ENT (lol, I wish i could).

 

This my audiogram from October when my Tinnitus was mild and I had no severe hyperacusis. Now I have a dip to about 25-30db on 4hz.

 

My regular doctor every time I go to her she says I have fluid in my ears, but my ENT says he doesn’t see any at all. I didn’t know there were different hearing test. I have a c type tympanogram curve and a gap between conductive and sensorineural hearing, what does this mean? Does this show pressure in the ears? I know the ENT said he could tell by my hearing test that I had pressure. Maybe you could become an ENT and help us all out more than they do! Lol