What in the World is that Audiogram Saying? By Heather Hall KSD Outreach Consultant KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness Equal Education & Employment Opportunities M/F/D

KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness What is an Audiogram? An audiogram is a graph that describes the result of a hearing test. It provides information on what range you hear and the loudness level that you can and can not hear sounds . KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness

What Information is on the Audiogram? It tells your hearing level which is measured in decibels (dB) or how loud or soft sounds are that you hear. It tells what frequencies you can or can not hear measured in hertz (Hz). KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness

KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness What is a Decibel? Think of decibels as a measure of loudness on the dial on your stereo. It measures how loud sounds are that you hear. 0 dB is total quite and 110 is the noise a jet makes at take off with you standing about 1000 feet from it. KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness

KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness What is a Hertz? Hertz (Hz) is the measurement for frequencies. Most people can hear from 20Hz up to 20,000 Hz. Think of a piano and its keys. The keys on the left are the lower pitched sounds and the keys on the right are higher pitched sounds. The lower the pitch the lower the frequency the higher the pitch the higher the frequency. KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness

KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness What are the X’s and O’s? The X’s are the sounds the left ear hears. The O’s are the sounds the right ear hears. KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness

Okay How Do I Read the Audiogram? The locations of the X’s and O’s tell you at what frequency and how loud a sound is that the person has heard. All the area above the X’s and O’s they can not hear. KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness

Ok What does That All Mean? The locations of the X’s and O’s can show you everyday sounds that a person can and can not hear. There is also a section (in gray in the picture) that is called the speech banana which has most of the speech sounds that we hear to help understand what is being said to us. If the sounds are above X’s and O’s then the person can not hear those sounds. KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness

What are the levels of Hearing Loss? KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness

What does a Hearing Loss Sound Like? The fading picture is a visual demonstration of how hard it is to understand what is being said the greater the hearing loss. KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness

KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness Need More Help? Please contact: Heather Hall KSD Outreach Consultant Heather.hall@ksd.kyschools.us 606-233-3770 KSD The Statewide Educational Resource Center on Deafness