What does audiometry mean?
Audiometry is the branch of hearing science devoted to measuring how well a person can hear. Using an instrument called an audiometer, an examiner presents sounds at controlled frequencies and volumes — typically through headphones — and records the softest levels the listener can detect. The results are plotted as an audiogram, which clinicians use to identify and classify hearing loss as conductive, sensorineural, or mixed. Audiometry ranges from simple screening tests, such as those administered in schools, to sophisticated pure-tone and speech-based assessments performed in audiology clinics. It also plays a vital role in occupational health, where regular testing monitors workers exposed to loud machinery or music. Precise, non-invasive, and entirely painless, audiometry is often the first step toward diagnosis and treatment, including hearing aids or other interventions. The word derives from Latin audire, meaning 'to hear', combined with Greek metron, meaning 'measure', reflecting its essence: the quantitative measurement of one of our most essential senses.
nounThe scientific measurement of hearing acuity, typically using an instrument called an audiometer to determine a person's ability to perceive sounds of varying frequency and intensity.
- The measurement of a person's sensitivity to sound across a range of frequencies and intensities, usually by means of an audiometer; used to diagnose hearing loss and monitor auditory health.
"Annual audiometry is required for all workers exposed to high noise levels on the factory floor."
"The school nurse performed basic audiometry on every first-grader to screen for undetected hearing loss."
"Following the industrial noise complaint, the company instituted routine audiometry for its machine operators."
Audiometry is almost always used as an uncountable mass noun; a plural form exists only in rare technical contexts referring to multiple individual testing procedures.
"Serial audiometries over five years documented the gradual decline in his hearing."
Every audiometric booth you've ever sat in traces back to the telephone era — engineers measuring faint signals accidentally invented the science of measuring human hearing.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of audiometry
The word audiometry combines the Latin root audire ('to hear') with the Greek metron ('measure'), a hybrid formation common in scientific vocabulary of the modern era. It emerged alongside the related noun audiometer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when advances in acoustics and telephony made precise measurement of hearing thresholds possible for the first time. Its sibling terms include audible, auditory, and audition (all from audire) and metric, geometry, and symmetry (from metron), placing audiometry firmly within the family of measurement sciences named with the -metry suffix.
How audiometry is actually used
A technical term used chiefly in audiology, otolaryngology, occupational health, and related clinical settings; it is uncommon in everyday conversation. It is an uncountable noun in most contexts, though it can occasionally take an indefinite article when referring to a specific testing session (e.g., 'an audiometry').
Easily confused with audiometry
Audiometry is the specific measurement of hearing acuity, while audiology is the broader medical field concerned with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing and balance disorders.
An audiogram is the chart or record produced by audiometry, not the measurement process itself.