Audiogram for Dummies

Audiogram is a word that we use to describe a special kind of chart that helps us understand how well a person can hear different sounds. It's like a little map for your ears, created by a hearing test. You know how when you look at a map, you can see different colors and lines that show you where different places are? Well, an audiogram is kind of like that, but instead of showing different places, it shows the different pitches and volumes of sounds that we can hear.

Imagine if you were trying to read a map and it showed different colors for different types of trees, different lines for roads, and different symbols for buildings. That would make it easier for you to understand what you're looking at, right? Well, an audiogram does the same thing for our ears. It uses different symbols and shapes to show us how well we can hear different pitches and volumes of sounds.

On an audiogram, we have two main parts: the X-axis and the Y-axis. The X-axis is like the horizontal line that goes from left to right, and it represents the different pitches or frequencies of sounds, kind of like the notes on a music scale. The Y-axis is like the vertical line that goes up and down, and it represents the different volumes or intensities of sounds, kind of like how loud something is.

When we do a hearing test, we use headphones to play different sounds at different pitches and volumes, and we ask you to raise your hand or press a button whenever you hear a sound. Based on your responses, we can then plot the results on the audiogram. The symbols we use on the audiogram look like little X's or circles, and they tell us how well you can hear different sounds.

So, an audiogram is like a special map for our ears that helps us understand how well we can hear different pitches and volumes of sounds. It's created through a hearing test where we play different sounds and you tell us if you can hear them. This way, we can see if there are any parts of your hearing that need some extra help or support.