what is an audiogram?
AUDIOGRAM
- An audiologist tests a person's hearing and produces an audiogram based on the results.
- The audiogram is a graphical representation of a person's hearing in response to tones.
- It records the softest level that a person is able to hear sounds in the right and left ear, from low pitches to high pitches.
THE AUDIOGRAM & SPEECH SOUNDS
- Most consonants fall in the higher pitches
- Vowels fall in the lower pitches
- People with a hearing loss often lose their high pitched hearing first, making it difficult for them to hear consonants.
- With only the vowels, it will sound as if someone is mumbling.
TRY THIS ACTIVITY
Th grl wnt shppng.
They were the exact same sentences. However, it is much more difficult to decipher without the consonants.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
- Consonants are more important than vowels for speech understanding.
- Consonants are spoken more softly than vowels and become masked in noisy environments.
- Consonants are higher-pitched and most hearing losses occur in the higher pitches
- People with a hearing loss often complain of people mumbling, or say they can hear the words but not understand them. This is due to a loss of consonants in speech.