Hearing Test?

The numbers you quote are not interpretable. 0dB or 10dB relative to what?

Why were you getting your hearing tested?
By 'she' do you mean a certified audiologist?
Tinnitus under quite conditions is extremely common.

A reasonable assumption. If so, I wonder if the tinnitus did, indeed, affect the test results and that another test might give different results.

There are other factors to consider including the ambient noise levels. Also, I do not know your age but the reference is not likely to be a constant level but the age-correlated population curve.

BTW, there is a way to test yourself if you have good, flat headphones and a very quiet environment. http://www.digital-recordings.com/audiocd/audio.html

Audiologist's primary job is to diagnosis disease. The test tones are close to your limits of auditory perception. They look for age related decreases likely to interfere with activities of daily living, neuro-sensory loss, and
unilateral hearing deficiencies indicative of pathology. They really are not looking for typical decreases in high frequency acuity.


Most musicians continue enjoy music and produce music despite typical exposure induced hearing loss. I can't image your exposure or hearing would interfere with your ability to perceive and enjoy music.

I'd bet good money that your audiologist and ENT would consider you to have normal hearing.

The test with the headphones will not properly test for Tinnitus. You need to get the test that is tympanometry. "

• tympanometry (also called impedance audiometry) - a test that can be performed in most physician offices to help determine how the middle ear is functioning. It does not tell if the child is hearing or not, but helps to detect any changes in pressure in the middle ear. This is a difficult test to perform in younger children because the child needs to sit very still and not be crying, talking, or moving." http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1831254-overview

http://www.drf.org/Tinnitus

Audiometry doesn't use dB SPL or dBA levels, they use dB HL. (dB Hearing Level)
A conversion table is listed at the bottom of the last page of this document http://www.batod.org.uk/content/arti...3-decibels.pdf
but I've found different conversion values on different websites (http://ec.europa.eu/health/opinions/...es/table-2.htm), so I'm still not sure what the final numbers should be.

Any audiometry readings less than 20 is considered normal, so you're doing pretty good. The tinnitus you heard is a result of living in our noisy western society. Ipods and their earbuds are just as much to blame as Sony walkmans were in the previous generation. The tinnitus might go away if you start living a much quieter lifestyle from now on, but unfortunately high frequency hearing loss is a natural part of growing older so you should expect it to happen anyway.

I recently saw a TV editorial about a company (http://www.soundpharmaceuticals.com/) that is developing a drug to mimic the natural enzymes that help protect the inner ear from hearing damage. The thought of being able to take a pill before going to a concert to prevent hearing loss sounds enticing. They're also making another drug that is supposed to heal inner ear damage which might reduce that tinnitus you're experiencing, but I'm a little cynical so I'll wait for more proof.

Insane. A $.50 pair of earplugs will do a superior job of protecting your hearing.

Or maybe $12.95 for High-Fidelity Earplugs
http://www.etymotic.com/hp/er20.html