An audiology report can look like a page of graphs and numbers written for someone else entirely. As an audiologist, let me walk you through it the way I would at my own desk, slowly, in plain words, so the page stops being frightening.

First, a reassurance. A report is a snapshot, not a sentence. It describes how your child responded to sound on one day, in one room. It is information, and information is something we can use. So let us read it together.

The audiogram, explained

The centrepiece is usually a graph called an audiogram. It looks like a grid, and once you know what the two directions mean, it stops being mysterious:

  • Left to right is pitch, from low sounds like a drum to high sounds like a bird. This is measured in hertz (Hz).
  • Top to bottom is loudness. The further down the graph a mark sits, the louder a sound had to be before your child responded. Loudness is measured in decibels (dB).

So marks near the top mean your child heard soft sounds easily. Marks lower down mean a sound needed to be louder to be noticed. You will often see different symbols for the right ear and the left ear, because each is tested on its own.

Numbers on a page never tell the whole story of a child. They are one window into one moment. The child in front of us is always more than the chart that describes them.

What the levels roughly mean

Audiologists group hearing into broad bands. These are general guides, not labels to worry over:

  • Around 0 to 20 dB is typically considered within the normal range for children.
  • Mild differences mean the softest speech sounds may be missed, especially in a noisy room.
  • Moderate and beyond means more of everyday speech is affected, and support such as devices or therapy is often discussed.

One band rarely tells the full picture. What matters is the shape across pitches, the difference between ears, and how it all lines up with what you see at home.

Other words you might meet

A few terms turn up often. Here is the short, human version:

  • Tympanometry: a quick test of how the eardrum moves. It helps spot fluid behind the ear, which is common and often temporary.
  • OAE: a gentle test of the inner ear's response, frequently used with babies and young children.
  • Conductive vs sensorineural: simply where in the hearing pathway the difference sits. The distinction guides what kind of support helps most.

The most important question

When parents bring me a report, I always come back to the same question, and I invite you to hold it too: what does this mean for my child's daily life, their listening, their language, their connection with us? That is the question worth answering, and it is rarely answered by numbers alone. It is answered by reading the report alongside the child, and by making a kind, clear plan from there.

If you are holding a report and the page feels heavier than it should, bring it. We will sit down, read it line by line, and turn it into something you understand and can act on. You should never have to decode your child's hearing alone.