What are frequencies?
Tone frequency is the number of vibrations in a sound wave per second. The unit of measurement is the Hertz (Hz). The higher the number, the higher the frequency. Vibrations between 20 and 20,000 Hertz are interpreted as sounds by the average person. The twittering of birds is one example of a high tone. Low tones include distant thunder or a tone on a bass guitar.
High-frequency hearing loss means that the affected person has problems starting with impairment in the higher frequencies only. These include sibilants (-s-, -f-, or –sh-) and consonants. Those affected find it difficult to hear tones with high frequencies and often mis-hear words. People with high frequency loss will often say female & children's voices are harder to hear or they miss specific high pitched ringing sounds.
Low frequency is less common but results in a loss of volume. Low pitched sounds are typically the vowels in speech. Your audiologist can overlay the speech sounds on top of your audiogram results so you can see which sounds in speech you may miss.