Official Audiology Report

I received the official audiology report in the mail from Nolan's latest hearing test. Everything looks great, we only had one significant drop in the last six months (at 500Hz for the left ear, by 10dB). Everything else was about the same, a 5dB loss for many frequencies, but this is considered simple variability and not a "true" loss.

They also took a reading at 1500Hz for the first time- 50dB for the left ear and 45dB for the right ear.

Because audiograms can vary by a slight amount, it is good to compare audiograms taken quite some distance apart. So, here is the left ear, with one year's difference:

His high frequencies have remained at the same mild level.

A fluctuation to 55dB at 4kHz was observed in Aug. 2008, but did not stay at that level!

And here is the right ear, with one year's difference:

The right ear has dropped a tad in all frequencies.

The shaded area are the sounds of speech that Nolan cannot hear unaided. Which is pretty much... all of them. He actually can't hear Dennis unaided at a short distance at all, though he can hear me fairly well. My voice must resonate at a fairly high frequency!

All in all, it is still good news because his hearing is helped greatly by his hearing aids. Since hearing ability is calculated by the "better ear," he is moderately severe rising to mild. Pay no attention to the categories on this teaching audiogram, because they have 55dB-80dB listed as "severe." Most terminology I have seen labels this hearing level as "moderately severe," and that is the terminology our audiologist uses.