What Does It Mean to Have “Normal” Hearing?

In a world where we are all individuals, what is normal anyway?! Well, when it comes to hearing, normal hearing is defined as a baseline to determine if you have an issue with hearing or not. Living with untreated hearing loss can affect your quality of life in many ways from the closeness of your relationships, your earnings at work, your self-confidence, cognitive health, and physical safety. It is important to understand what normal is in hearing to know if you may need to act around your hearing loss.

Hearing Thresholds

To understand how to determine normal hearing we use hearing thresholds. This method measures the softest sound you can hear at any given frequency or pitch. The loudness of sound is measured in decibels. In 1933, the hearing of thousands of people was conducted at the World’s Fair in Chicago Illinois to determine a baseline for what most people could hear. What seemed to be normal hearing was then calibrated on a scale as audiometric zero (0dBA) By averaging the T softest sounds that people could hear at each frequency the standardized formula to identify hearing loss is still used today.

What Is Normal Hearing?

While 0 is the most common baseline for hearing the quietest sounds, some people can hear sounds below 0 dBA, while others can’t hear 0 but still don’t technically have hearing loss. To account for subtle differences, normal hearing is recorded in the range between 0 dBA to 20 dBA. If the quietest sounds you hear are within this range, then it means you have normal hearing! 

What Is Hearing Loss?

If you have tested your hearing and it shows that you struggle to hear sounds louder than 21 dBA and beyond, then technically you have hearing loss. In most cases, hearing loss is sensorineural meaning you have damage in the cells of your inner ear. These cells send audio signals from the ears to the brain and when they are interrupted due to damage some degree of hearing ability is lost. We can monitor your hearing using a series of exams.

How A Hearing Test Works

The most common hearing test is called the pure tone audiometry test. This test puts you in a soundproof booth or room with headphones. We will play different tones and pitches at varying levels into each of your ears to determine what sounds you can detect. As the sounds are played into your headphones, we will ask you to raise a hand on the corresponding ear. If you can hear sounds between 0 dB and 25 dB, you have “normal” hearing! However if you hear below this threshold we have many solutions to help support your hearing.

Degrees of Hearing Loss

Here is a chart to understand the degrees of hearing loss:

• Mild hearing loss –You can’t hear sounds softer than 26 dBA, and some of your hearing thresholds can struggle to hear sounds as high as 40 dBA.
• Moderate hearing loss – you struggle to hear thresholds below 41 to 55 dBA.
• Moderately severe hearing loss – you struggle to hear thresholds between 56dB to 70dB, causing you to miss significant soft sounds in your environment including the chirping of birds, the water through creeks, the wind in the trees and whispered conversation.
• Severe hearing loss – your hearing thresholds are between 71 dB to 90dB making it difficult to follow normal conversation even when there is no background noise present.

Baseline Hearing Test

Have you been struggling with hearing loss? You may not even notice. Even with a mild hearing loss, people tend to score lower on cognitive testing. This means that even if your hearing loss is mild, it could impact the quality of your life as well as your overall health. There are many factors which increase the likelihood of hearing loss from being 50 years and older, working in a loud profession, having noisy hobbies or a family history of hearing loss. If you are at a higher risk then we encourage you to take an initiative and find out if hearing loss is detracting from your life. Contact us today to schedule a hearing exam now!