What is the Hearing Number?

Know Your Hearing

Hearing helps us engage with the world and connect with the people in our lives. Yet many of us do not know much about our hearing and how it changes over time. This is in part because there hasn’t been a simple way to understand and talk about our hearing like there is for height, weight, vision, blood pressure, and other key health metrics. That’s where the Hearing Number comes in.

The Hearing Number

The Hearing Number simply tells you the softest speech sound you can hear. You have two Hearing Numbers: one for your right ear and one for your left ear. And they can be as low as -10 and as high as 100 decibels (dB). The higher your Hearing Numbers are, the louder sounds will need to be for you to hear them.

Your Hearing Numbers Will Change Over Time

That is right—and it’s not just you. Everybody’s hearing changes over time because the parts of the inner ear that detect sound wear out throughout our lives. Children can hear very soft sounds and could have Hearing Numbers less than 0 dB. But as we get older, everyone’s hearing changes, and our Hearing Numbers get higher.

The Hearing Number is the PTA4

The Hearing Number is also known as the 4-frequency pure tone average, or PTA4. The PTA4 is one of many ways that hearing care professionals measure hearing. You may have heard hearing loss described as mild, moderate, or severe. The PTA4 is used to define those broad categories too.

Mild, which is a Hearing Number of 20 to 34
Moderate, which is a Hearing Number of 35 to 49
Moderately severe, which is a Hearing Number of 50 to 64
Severe, which is a Hearing Number of 65 to 79

Source: World report on hearing. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021.

How can I get my Hearing Numbers?

Here are a few ways to get your Hearing Numbers.

See a hearing care professional.

Your hearing care professional, such as an audiologist, will test your hearing. Ask your hearing clinician to tell you your PTA, which is the Hearing Number.

Get your Hearing Numbers using a smartphone.

At this time, only iOS devices can provide the Hearing Number. Go to the Apple Store and download the Mimi or Jacoti app to test your hearing. If you have an Apple iPhone or iPad and have AirPods Pro (2nd generation), you can also learn your Hearing Numbers with the built-in Apple hearing test.

Coming in fall 2024, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will be releasing a free Hearing Number app available for iOS and Android.

Calculate your Hearing Numbers from your audiogram.

If you have a copy of your hearing test, also known as an audiogram, follow the directions below to calculate your Hearing Numbers.

Calculate your Hearing Numbers from your audiogram

If you have a copy of your hearing test, also known as an audiogram, follow the directions below to calculate your Hearing Numbers.

Your audiogram is a graph. Across the top is frequency (Hz). Down the side is decibels (dB). Your audiogram may have many symbols on it. To calculate your Hearing Numbers, look for the line with the X’s and the line with the O’s.

Start with your left ear, which is the line with the X’s.

Find 500 Hz on the top of the graph, and then find the X below it. Write down the dB it relates to from the side of the graph. This number will range from 0–120 dB.
Do the same for the X’s below 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, and 4000 Hz.
Add the 4 numbers together and divide the total by 4.
Round to the nearest whole number. That is your Hearing Number for your left ear!
Now repeat for your right ear, which is the line with the O’s.

Important

Talk to your doctor if your right and left ear Hearing Numbers are different by more than 10 or if you have persistent ear pain, dizziness, ear drainage, or sudden or fluctuating hearing loss.