Health encyclopaedia

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Hearing tests

Hearing tests are given as a routine part of child development checks, and to anyone who appears to have or to be developing a hearing impairment.

Hearing tests are painless. They are sometimes called an audiogram or audiometry. They check how well you can hear different types of sound – soft and loud sounds, and sounds that are high and low in pitch.

Sounds are transmitted through sound waves in the air. As the waves go into the ear, they are sent to the nerves in the inner ear, and the nerves send messages to the brain. It’s helpful to imagine sound as waves travelling towards a beach. The loudness of sounds is measured by how tall the waves are. A very tall wave is a very loud sound. The loudness of sounds is measured in decibels. The pitch or tone of a sound is measured in how close the waves are to each other. The closer together the waves, the more high pitched or squeaky the sound is, and this is measured in Hertz.

• Why is it necessary?
• When should it be done?
• How is it performed?

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