An audiogram is a simple chart that shows how well you hear different sounds and pitches. At first glance, all the lines, circles, X’s, and numbers can look confusing. Once you know what they represent, your audiogram becomes much easier to understand.

During a hearing test, we determine the softest sounds you can hear at different pitches. These results are called your hearing thresholds and are plotted on your audiogram.

The numbers across the top of the audiogram represent frequency, measured in Hertz (Hz).

Think of frequency as the pitch of a sound.

• Low frequencies are deeper sounds, such as a man's deep voice, thunder, or the rumble of an engine.
• Middle frequencies contain much of the information found in everyday speech.
• High frequencies are sharper sounds, such as birds chirping, children's voices, and many important consonant sounds.

As you move from left to right, the sounds become higher in pitch.

The numbers running down the side of the audiogram represent loudness, measured in decibels (dB).

The farther down the chart your hearing thresholds appear, the louder a sound must be before you can hear it.

In simple terms:

The farther down the audiogram your results are, the greater the degree of hearing loss.

For standard headphone testing:

O = Right Ear
X = Left Ear

These symbols show the softest sound you were able to hear at each tested frequency.

The symbols are connected to create a picture of your hearing across different pitches.

Hearing levels are generally described as:

• Normal hearing: 0–20 dB
• Mild hearing loss: 21–40 dB
• Moderate hearing loss: 41–55 dB
• Moderately severe hearing loss: 56–70 dB
• Severe hearing loss: 71–90 dB
• Profound hearing loss: 91 dB or greater

These ranges are useful guides, but two people with similar audiograms may experience their hearing loss very differently.

This is one of the most common things we hear:

“I can hear them talking. I just can't understand what they're saying.”

There is a good reason for that.

Many vowel sounds are relatively low-pitched and carry much of the volume of speech. Many consonants—such as S, F, TH, SH, T, and K—are softer and higher-pitched.

Those consonants provide much of the clarity and detail that allow us to distinguish one word from another.

For example, words such as “cat,” “cap,” and “cash” can sound surprisingly similar when important high-frequency speech sounds are missing.

This is why hearing loss isn't simply about making everything louder.

Good hearing care is about improving both audibility and understanding.

If everyday speech sounds are placed on an audiogram, they form an area sometimes called the “speech banana.”

Different speech sounds occur at different pitches and loudness levels. Your hearing thresholds help us determine which portions of normal conversation you may be hearing clearly—and which sounds you may be missing altogether.

This information is extremely useful when selecting and programming hearing aids.

An audiogram tells us a great deal, but it doesn't tell the entire story.

We also evaluate how well you recognize and understand speech when it is presented at an appropriate listening level.

This is important because hearing aids cannot simply be chosen based on how many decibels of hearing loss you have.

We need to consider:

How much hearing you have, where the hearing loss occurs, how well you understand speech, your listening environments, and what you actually need help hearing.

Your hearing aid should be programmed for your hearing loss—not someone else's and not simply a manufacturer's default setting.

Your audiogram helps determine how much amplification is needed at different frequencies.

For example, if you hear lower frequencies relatively well but have significant high-frequency hearing loss, simply turning everything up would not be appropriate. The hearing aid needs to provide amplification where you need it while avoiding unnecessary amplification where you don't.

That is one reason proper fitting, programming, verification, and follow-up care matter.

Your audiogram is not a pass-or-fail test.

It is a map of your hearing.

It helps us understand what you're hearing, what you're missing, and where we can potentially improve your ability to communicate.

And while the audiogram is extremely important, we don't fit an audiogram—we fit the person sitting in front of us.

Your lifestyle, concerns, listening environments, speech understanding, comfort, and goals are all part of finding the right solution.