A hearing test determines how well a person can hear different sounds.

How is the test performed?

Sounds are transmitted by sound waves that travel through the air and through bone. A hearing test usually determines how well a person hears sounds that are presented to the ear and to the skull bones.

Testing for sounds that travel through the air is done with a person wearing earphones over his or her ears. Pure tones of various frequencies are presented to one ear at a time at controlled volumes. The person being tested is asked to indicate when he or she first hears the sound. The softest sounds that the person can detect are recorded for each frequency. The results are put on a graph and compared to a normal hearing graph, or audiogram.

To test for sounds that travel through the bone, tuning forks of different frequencies are tapped and held against a person's skull. The person being tested is asked to indicate which sounds he or she can detect.