What is Deaf or Hard of Hearing on an audiogram? Pt. 2. Hz

Now, the second part of your audiogram is the Hz part, which stands for Hertz, which you should find along the top or bottom of your audiogram. Along side the Hz, you might find the word "frequency." This refers to pitch, and is how high or low a pitch is. Last time I briefly said that the lower a Hz number is, the lower pitch, while the higher a Hz number is, the higher the pitch. These numbers/sounds on the graph are arranged lowest to highest, from left to right, like a piano.

In case you don't remember the audiogram from last time:

Now, this audiogram is different from mine on the hertz scale in that it's slightly longer than mine. The one my tests are done on only goes down to slightly below 250Hz, while this one goes down to about 75Hz, and mine are only tested slightly above 8000Hz, while this one goes probably up to 16000Hz. However, the concept is still the same.

What might surprise you, is that the frequencies audiologists test you on are actually based on musical notes. Here's an actual online program from The University of New South Wales (it's in Australia, for those of you who aren't familiar with geography) which actually converts Hertz to music notes. Hz to Music notes

I've gone ahead and made a list of the ones on this test their corresponding notes to save you the time.
75Hz = Approximately D2 (second D below middle C)
250Hz=Approximately D3 (first D below middle C)
500Hz=Approximately B4 (B just after middle C)
1000Hz=Approximately B5 (B next octave up from middle C)
2000Hz=Approximately B6 (B two octaves above middle C)
4000Hz=Approximately B7 (B three octaves above middle C)
8000HZ=Approximately B8 (B four octaves above middle C)


Now, for the musically challenged, here's an easier list:

This is from the Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services in New Hampshire (see Bibliography.) Sorry it's so juvenile looking. It's the only thing I could find after multiple searches. Not wholly scientific, but it's to help give you an idea of what sounds are at what frequencies.

Now, an average audiogram for a hearing person would look something like this:

Now, ignoring the symbols, the different colors stand for different ears. To understand this audiogram, you'd look at the Hz, or frequency, and then match it to the dB where the circle is. That is the indication of the quietest you can hear at the pitch. So this person can hear 250Hz at 0dB in one ear, and 250Hz at about 5dB in the other ear. That means they can hear really quiet low sounds. If you use that same method across the board, you'll have a pretty good idea of what your hearing test is saying.

Cheers!

References

Babyhearing.org, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.babyhearing.org/images/HearingAmp/HearLoss/normal.gif [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015].

Hearinglink.org, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.hearinglink.org/image/audiograms---general-use/Audiogram-800.jpg [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015].

Nhdeafhhed.org, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.nhdeafhhed.org/images/M_images/07_audiogram.gif [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015].