A General Review Of An Audiometer

By Tiffany Gill


An audiometer is a medical device found in most clinics, hospitals and audiology centers. Its use is to determine the hearing loss intensity of patients. Generally, the device can be used by E. N. T specialist in diagnosing various problems. The standard measurement unit for this device is the decibel. It is a unit which is universally accepted to measure the intensity of sound.

The audiometer resembles a pair of headphones. It is connected to a computer which controls its operation. A special button, which gives feedback signals as received from the patient, is also embedded in the device. During operation, the response of a patient to different frequencies is displayed in the computer which is subsequently used to plot an audiogram. The audiogram is keenly analyzed to determine the range which a patient can react to different sound frequencies.

An audiogram is simple graph showing the intensity of the sound in decibels versus the frequency in hertz. It gives a representation of the audible threshold of a patient under test exactly as it is being measured by the audiometer. When constructing an audiogram, the specialist takes into consideration the fundamental frequencies, as they must be included the audiometer readings. Normally, a range of 100HZ to 8000Hz is considered to be the range in which an audiogram can be constructed.

If you decide to shop for an audiometer, you will either go for the software or the hardware type. The software type is most common in homes and educational institutions. It uses special developed software which is installed in a computer. Data fed into this software gives the hearing range of the patient under test.

Hardware devices on the other contain an embedded unit which is connected next to the headphones. This unit is linked with a special button which gives feedback signal to the device during operation. This device is relatively expensive than the software type as it gives results of higher accuracy. They are very efficient in hearing loss tests.

The overall procedure of identifying a hearing loss problem is not complex as you might think. With this device, it is very easy.it only entails the patient being subjected to an audio from the device then their reaction at different frequencies being noted. These different frequencies give a range of the hearing capabilities of the patient. The range aid the medical specialist in treating such a patient.

During hearing loss analysis, the way through which patients respond to the sound varies. Adult patients are required to press a button while small children are provided with toys to show their reactions to the sound. Head turn can also be used to note a reaction to the sound.

An audiometer can also be used to diagnosis hearing problems in animals. Veterinary doctors do train the animals to react to these sound frequencies through different ways. They can train the animals to eat, raise special sound or behave anomaly whenever they hear such audio.




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