Self Hearing Evaluation on Audio Notch

Hi all. I was diagnosed with mild hearing loss and tinnitus 7 months ago. Yesterday, I decided to evaluate my hearing on audio notch (https://www.audionotch.com/app/tune/). I'm not quite sure it was a good idea. Afterwards, I was overwhelmed with emotions and questions. Oh well, what's done is done. As long as all these things are in my head, I just thought I would share them.

1) I checked my hearing by sweeping through the frequencies. I did not use the "slowly increase frequency button" as it moves too slow. Instead, I moved the frequency slider manually. With the app and my pc volume both at 1%, I started evaluating my hearing. I noticed nothing significant when sweeping back and forth from 0 to 3000 Hz. From about 3000 to 4000 I could not hear anything. This matched my audiogram at 30 - 35 db hearing loss bilaterally at those frequencies. So I decided to focus on this frequency range and perform some further tests. I turned up the app volume until I could barely hear the tone and swept from 3000 Hz to 4000 Hz. I found that 3500 Hz was my low point in my bilateral hearing. So if I have mild hearing loss at 3000 Hz, then I probably have moderate hearing loss at 3500 Hz.

2) I set the app volume back to 1% and swept the higher frequencies. I noticed that I have asymmetric hearing in higher frequencies. The tones in the various frequencies were either the same in both ears, higher in left ear, or higher in the right ear. As I swept through these frequencies, I had a panning effect with the sound moving from one ear to the next. What the heck!?!?!?!? This was upsetting to me. What could cause such a hearing loss pattern??? I have always suspected that something "attacked" my auditory system. I just don't know what and neither do the doctors. If my loss is noise related, I would expect a notch at 3000 to 6000 Hz. If it is age (41) / hereditary related, I would expected some symmetry. Although this little test did provide a clearer picture of my hearing, it has dragged me down mentally. My hearing is worse than my audiograms suggest. This leads me to my third point.

3) I feel like the hearing test that I performed on myself provided a better picture of my hearing than the tests administered by the audiologists. I understand that I can request for a high frequency exam. Also, I know that my self test cannot provide db levels. However, I have a better picture of my hearing landscape. Clinical audiograms will only test certain frequencies. This leaves huge gaps within the complete picture. There should be a better standard of testing. For those that have tinnitus without "hearing loss", how do doctors know that you don't have a deep and narrow notch at an un-tested frequency?? As with many of you, I feel frustrated.

All of this ultimately leads to one point.... The doctors look at my audiogram, see mild hearing loss at 3000 to 4000 Hz, and tell me, with either their mouths or their facial expressions, that my tinnitus can't be that bad.... Hahaha life can be so cruel sometimes!

 

I did this too, using the same tuner application, the one from Audio Notch. I did a frequency sweep from 14,000 to 16,000 Hz to check for high frequency hearing loss because my initial tinnitus tone was at around 15,250 Hz, and I figured that if I had hearing loss, it would be in around that frequency. I ended up not being able to discern any frequencies in that range that seemed to be missing or quieter... Good news, I guess.

A good "poor man's hearing test". Unfortunately, I have no idea how to interpret your results ... :-\

I was surprised when I had my hearing exam at an audiologist clinic at the small number of frequencies that were used for testing, but I guess that is how they've done things for years, and it is probably adequate to diagnose hearing issues and select proper hearing aids in most cases. However, I have two young children and they both went through hearing tests when they were literally hours old. At the hospital, they hooked up basically a set of earbuds to play a tone, and then a set of electrodes placed behind the ear that are actually able to measure the responses to the tone in the hearing nerve. Once the equipment is attached, the whole thing is automated. Surely, a similar test could be used with adults, with a frequency sweep, to get a granular picture of the patient's hearing situation without even requiring any interaction from the patient during the test...

 

It's no good blaming the doctors. Standard audiometry tests only the speech frequencies which is our primary mode of communication and therefore, all that doctors are interested in. High frequency testing requires a whole new set of ANSI standards requiring heavy specialist headphones which are too cumbersome for standard clinical use. Clinical tests needs to be reasonably quick and cause as little discomfort as possible. Performing clinical audiometry at every possible frequency between 250 - 8kHz would take too long

EDIT: Performing high frequency testing from a PC using earbuds or standard headphones might be ok "to get an idea" but the output from each frequency is not calibrated properly to effective zero which is why many programs don't express in dB. It takes a lot of energy to just detect tones above 8kHz which is why PC-based tests will not be accurate

 

Not only that. It is unlikely that is uses any weighted dB curve to correct for frequency-dependent acoustic gains of the ear.

 

Thanks for all of the replies. I understand that I am vastly underestimating what goes into a hearing exam. All of my words are coming from an angle of frustration. When I was sweeping through the frequencies and the tone was panning from one ear to the next, I knew something was not right regardless of my lack of scientific and technical knowledge. I never had any issues with my hearing, then out of the blue, I get hit with this and no one can tell me why. I feel the answer to "why?" is extremely important because it may identify something that might prevent my hearing from getting worse. Right now, I'm in the "series of follow up audio exams" phase. This consists of coming in for an audio exam every two to three months until my hearing hits rock bottom (more softly put by the doctors as "stabilizes"). So when my hearing stops getting worse, then it is time to discuss what the next move is???? I have been to 4 different ENTs and I am sticking with my current clinic because they, at least, show compassion. I have 3 children and I am encouraging them all to consider medical careers. If one of them can find the cure to hearing loss / tinnitus, could you even begin to imagine how many people it would impact!?!?!?!?