Each individual's hearing loss is unique, no two people having the exact same degree, extent, or type of hearing impairment. An audiological evaluation (hearing test) is used to measure your hearing and understanding ability to best of all listening conditions. This is best done in a sound treated room with earphones placed inside the ear canal or headphones over the ears. An audiogram is a graphical representation of your ability to hear different pitch ranges at different loudness levels. Measurement of frequency (or pitch) allows the audiologist to measure the amount of hearing loss in each frequency and determine what daily sounds will be affected by the hearing loss of those pitches. Some patients may have difficulty hearing low pitch sounds such as motors running while others have the difficulty in the high pitch range where birds chirp.

When measuring your hearing on the audiogram, speech recognition and understanding ability is also evaluated. By adjusting the volume of their voice to a level you feel is most comfortable, the audiologist will evaluate your ability to understand in the best conditions possible. Information taken from the audiometric testing is then used to determine the proper treatment for your hearing loss. Some hearing losses can be medically or surgically corrected while others can only be helped with the use of hearing aids or cochlear implantation.

From the audiological evaluation a completed audiogram is obtained. This graphs gives us a unique hearing profile of each individual patient and shows the extent and degree of hearing loss the person is suffering. Below are examples of an audiogram and also an audiogram with common sounds in our environment at the pitch range in which it occurs as well as the loudness it typically occurs at.