The audiogram is a graphical display of the hearing test.

The two main components that are graphed are frequency and intensity. An audiogram is a graph that shows the softest sounds a person can hear at different pitches or frequencies

The frequencies
The horizontal scale at the bottom indicates the different frequencies. The low frequencies (e.g. the hum of an engine) are located on the far left, the high sounds (e.g. the twitter of a bird) on the far right.
Each vertical line represents a different frequency. The ones used most often during testing are 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 and 8000 Hz.

Intensity
The intensity is measured in decibels (dB). The intensity relates to how loud or soft a sound is. Each horizontal line represents a different intensity level. The softest sounds are at the top of the chart and the loudest sounds at the bottom. Each mark on an individuals hearing test would represent the softest sounds they could hear. The softest intensity tested is typically 0 dB and the loudest is 120 dB.
An O often is used to represent responses for the right ear and an X is used to represent responses for the left ear.

Categories of hearing loss by severity:

Mild hearing loss is defined as hearing thresholds in the range 25 to 40 dB. Moderate hearing loss is defined as hearing thresholds in the range of 40-60 dB. Severe hearing loss is defined as hearing thresholds in the range of 60-90 dB. Profound hearing loss is defined as hearing thresholds above 90 dB.

audiologist is measuring the softest sound the child can hear.

Causes include: Acute otitis media Otitis media with effusion (OME) Ear wax.

Sensorineural hearing loss Causes Genetic (50% of congenital deafness) Inherited forms of hearing loss are categorized as non- syndromic or syndromic: Non-syndromic (70%): dominant (DFNA) or recessive (DFNB) and mitochondrial forms exist. The most common is DFNB1 caused by mutations in GJB2 which encodes the gap junction protein connexin-26, CX26. Syndromic (30%): dominant: Stickler syndrome, Waardenburg syndrome recessive: Pendred syndrome, Usher syndrome. In addition, hearing loss is a component of a complex phenotype in a number of syndromes including JervellLangeNeilsen syndrome and TreacherCollins syndrome. Acquired Prenatal: congenital infection, fetal alcohol syndrome Perinatal: hyperbilirubinaemia, birth asphyxia Postnatal: infection: meningitis, measles, mumps. head injury drugs, e.g. aminoglycosides.

Golden rules for interpertating audiogram 1-sensorineuronal hearing loss causing hearing loss at higher frequencies HOWEVER conductive hearing loss causing produce hearing loss at low frequencies 2-conductive hearing loss does not cause hearing loss in excess of 5-60 db

3-in sensorineural deafness there will be parallel drop in conductive hearing loss as well 4-in conductive hearing loss air conduction is affecte but bone conduction is normal however in sensorineual hearing loss both air and bone conduction is affected EXAMPLES: