I had a company hearing test today

[Nikia]

I did well. In both hears, I had the worst heaing at 500Hertz, which was 15. The rest was very low, 5's and 0's and a -5 in both ears. Does anyone know what negative numbers mean? Does that mean that I have super human hearing?

[kmla]

1. What? Did you say something?

Oh, right. It's seven o'clock. What time does your watch have?

(Sorry. Bad old vaudeville joke.)

[Nikia]

7. My friend's joke that I fell for twice

When I first found out about the test, "Did you hear that we are going to have our hearing tested?"
Him:What did you say?
He gave the same response when I reminded him that we had to come in at a different time because of the hearing test.
He said that he responsded the same way when his superviser told him about the test.

[Bossy Monkey]

2. Yes, you now have to be fitted for tights and select a secret identity

Just kiddiing, I have no idea.

[liberalhistorian]

3. Well, as someone with a 50% hearing loss in both ears

who wears hearing aids (expensive mothers, let me tell you, even the simplest kinds) and watches a closed-captioned TV (best birthday present I ever got!), I'm ashamed to say that I have no idea, either! But if you did well, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about.

BTW, watching the news and CNN on my closed-captioned TV is sometimes absolutely hilarious, since, because it's live, the captioning will often get behind what's being shown on the screen. That can really make for some great comedy!

[FireHeart]

8. I have 67% and 72% loss

I can't wear hearing aids for medical reasons. When I wanted to watch TV, I connected my stereo to the TV and run headphones from the stereo. It works great, as long as you keep it within reason. IF a hearing aid benefits you, this would work. Some folks with a specific type of nerve deafness it won't help at all. :( It's best to consult with your ENT specialist first.

[Bossy Monkey]

4. To be seriouser, this indicates it's decibels

http://www.plumbers.cepu.asn.au/ohs/info/hearingtest.html
Don't know how they could be negative, but then I don't know much about the decibel scale. I still like the superhuman hearing explanation.

[Atlant]

9. Decibels are logarithms of ratios.

So, just like you can say 10^-1, you can say -1 Bel
or -10 decibels; they all mean the same thing: 1/10.

If you are -5 dB at some frequency, it means that you only need
10^-5/10 or about 32% of the stimulus that most
of us need. (Well, assuming my math is correct.) And there's
that ratio: 32:100 they took the logarithm of .

Atlant

[zbird]

5. Found this on a google search:

"0 dB on an audiogram denotes the hearing threshold level regarded as the normal audiometric standard at that frequency (see EQUAL LOUDNESS CONTOURS). Points below 0 on the scale denote louder threshold levels, whereas those above, expressed in negative decibels with respect to the zero level, are less intense levels which, because of individual hearing differences, some people may normally hear."

http://www.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/handbook/Audiogram.html

So, it doesn't look like superhuman hearing, maybe just a little more sensitive hearing at that certain frequency.

[Nikia]

6. Thanks

I just thought it was kind of weird that the accompanying sheet said that 0-25 was normal but gave no explanation for below zero.