How do they measure hearing loss?
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
United States
November 11, 2010 3:17am CST
i was told i have 30% hearing loss but when i tried looking it up all the sites for hearing impairment etc said that there is no such thing as a % and that people that say they are 50% hearing loss are stupid because thats not how you measure it etc.. my doctor said the percentage only and not anything else so is there a different way of knowing what it should be called? like is it measured in decibals? im totally confused because i am trying to figure out how serious mine is and the doc wants to do hearing aids and to me 30% doesnt sound like too much but maybe im wrong..
how the heck do you measure it to compare to online sites? if saying a percentage is so wrong why did my doc? anyone know if 30% is huge or do you think like me the doc is jumping the gun for hearing aids?
1 response
@holesworth (220)
• Australia
11 Nov 10
Audiologists generally use the decibel (dB) scale to measure the intensity of sound and - as you have discovered - this cannot be expressed using a percentage. The figure of 30% was most likely meant to be represented by a loss of 30dB - which falls into the mid hearing range; second only to normal hearing. Likewise, those who state that they have a loss of 50% most likely mean to say 50dB; which is moderate hearing loss.
1 person likes this
@moonlitmagikchild (22181)
• United States
28 Nov 10
i just wished the doc had given me the results in the correct language so that it would have eliminated this confusion!!
