Hearing Tests

Acoustic Reflex Test, Audiometry, Auditory Brainstem Evoked Potential (ABEP) Test, Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) Test, Pure Tone Audiometry, Rinne Test, Schwabach Test, Tuning Fork Test, Weber Test, Whispered Speech Test

Results

A hearing test is part of an ear examination that evaluates a person's ability to hear.

Hearing test results

Normal

You are able to hear whispered speech accurately. You can hear tones at equal loudness in both ears. You are able to repeat 90% to 95% of the words in a word recognition test. The microphone detects emissions from the inner ear in otoacoustic emissions (OAE) testing. The values recorded on the graph for auditory brain stem response (ABR) testing show that the nerves in the brain responsible for hearing are working normally.

Abnormal

You are not able to hear the whispers during a whispered speech test, or you are able to hear with one ear but not with the other. You hear the tone more loudly in one ear than in the other. You can only hear certain sounds at high decibel levels. You can hear sounds but you cannot understand words. No emissions are detected from the inner ear in otoacoustic emissions (OAE) testing. The values recorded on the graph for auditory brain stem response (ABR) testing show that nerves in the brain responsible for hearing are not functioning normally.

 

Sound is described in terms of frequency and intensity. Your hearing threshold is how loud the sound of a certain frequency must be for you to hear it.

• Frequency, or pitch (whether a sound is low or high), is measured in vibrations per second, or hertz (Hz). The human ear can normally hear frequencies from a very low rumble of 16 Hz to a high-pitched whine of 20,000 Hz. The frequencies of normal conversations in a quiet place are 500 to 2,000 Hz.
• Intensity, or loudness, is measured in decibels (dB). The normal range (threshold or lower limit) of hearing is 0 to 25 dB. For children, the normal range is 0 to 15 dB. Normal results shows that you hear within these ranges in both ears.

The following table relates how loud a sound must be for a person to hear it (hearing thresholds) to the degree of hearing loss for adults:

Hearing loss table

Hearing threshold in decibels (dB)	Degree of hearing loss	Ability to hear speech
0–25 dB	None	No significant difficulty
26–40 dB	Mild	Difficulty with faint or distant speech
41–55 dB	Moderate	Difficulty with conversational speech
56–70 dB	Moderate to severe	Speech must be loud; difficulty with group conversation
71–90 dB	Severe	Difficulty with loud speech; understands only shouted or amplified speech
91+ dB	Profound	May not understand amplified speech

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Author:	Monica Rhodes	Last Updated: April 30, 2007
Medical Review:	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine Donald R. Mintz, MD - Otolaryngology Charles M. Myer, III, MD - Otolaryngology
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