These results are superimposed from the PTA audiogram test I had and it looks like I have low-frequency hearing loss in both ears (13dBHL right ear and 12dBHL left ear), and my right ear has lost some high frequencies.
Hello,
I am a hearing care professional and student at the Technical University of Luebeck in the field of hearing science and acoustics. I can tell your hearing is absolutely fine (please compare to the diagram below) as far I can read from your audiogram and assuming that no measuring errors were made. Your left ear is more sensitive at higher frequencies than the the right ear (
X is left ear, O is right ear). The hearing threshold for both ears from 250-1000 Hz is @ +15 dB HL (HL stands for
hearing
level - in short, a calibrated representation of fletcher munson curve).
Interesting would also be the bone conduction measurement, especially for the 8 kHz tone. Hearing measurements are (in most cases) not made with 1 dB increments, but instead in 5 dB steps. It has to do with the sound pressure level, a duplication of SPL means +6 dB, but for simplification +5 dB was chosen. And it is easier to read from the chart/audiogram in 5 dB steps. This is mainly done to save time.
Always remember, TIME IS MONEY! And a hearing measurement can also be very exhausting for patients and the ENT or hearing care professional if all measurements are done avoiding measuring errors, including air and bone conduction + all the different speech tests. Depending on how accurate you perform these measurements with your patient/client it can take up to 30-45 minutes, in some cases also longer. There might be differences in the performance of hearing measurements depending on the country and the language. I am talking about the standard measurement in Germany.
Here is a diagram (I made this for my english speaking clients for easier assessment) which highlights the different degrees of hearing loss.
A
mild hearing loss starts @ 25 dB HL and goes to 40 dB HL, but many people are not aware of it because the signs or "problems" that occur are not really obvious (main sign from my experience is problems with directional hearing). Most people start to realise hearing loss only from a
moderate degree (40 dB HL) where speech in a quiet environment can become difficult to understand correctly, especially monosyllabic words (sun-fun / sin-thin etc.). At a
moderate hearing loss speech intelligibility can already be challenging without or very little background noise @ +/- 40 dB. Important to understand ist that the transition from one degree to another is very fluid and the perception and the suffering can vary drastically from person to person.
Not only the high frequencies between 4 kHz and 8 kHz cause problems (mix up of "s" and "f" sounds) but also frequencies at 1,5 kHz are problematic and important (dependent on the language). In german for example there is a big difference between "sch" which is equivalent to the english "sh"-sound (like
shine or
shoe and engli
sh) and "ch" which is pronounced totally different than in english. The english "ch" is pronounced "tsh" (like
channel,
chance or
chart) whereas the german "ch" sound is mostly pronounced (depending on the area you live) like the word
drache which means dragon (it sounds like when collecting spit - *
chhhh thuuuuuhhhh*) and is produced with the back of your throat. In english problematic words could be for example chunk (the very hard "tsh"-sound) and jump (a more soft "dsh"-sound).
The reason why hearing tests are made from (125 Hz to 8 kHz) is the so called "speech main area" (250 Hz up to 4 kHz), hearing aids have the purpose to increase speech intelligibility and those are the frequencies we need for spoken communication. Hearing "tests" (from a psychological view I prefer the word hearing measurement, as this does not put the patient/client under pressure) are made in octaves - 125, 250, 500, 1, 2, 4, 8 Hz/kHz - otherwise it would take to long to measure every single frequency. And this is not the way our ears work to be honest (
bark scale is one concept). Personally, I also measure the tertian frequencies @ 750, 1.5, 3 and 6 kHz, just to have a more detailed representation of the audiogram which allows a more accurate fitting of hearing aids imho.
Here is the so called "speech banana" which indicates the link between letters and frequencies. Sorry for the bad quality of the picture.
I apologize for the long text, but I just wanted to clarify some things. I am new to this forum and I have already read many false assumptions/conceptions about the sense of hearing and the perception. I just want to contribute and educate people because hearing has become, besides producing music, my passion.
I hope this helps. All the best to you.
Stay focused!