Is PTA the Same as an Audiogram? The Simple Answer

No, they are not the same thing, though they are closely linked. PTA (pure-tone audiometry) is the hearing test itself, the procedure done in a soundproof room. The audiogram is the graph that the test produces. So one is the test, the other is the result you take home.

What does PTA actually mean?

PTA most often stands for pure-tone audiometry — the standard hearing test where an audiologist plays pure tones (single-pitch beeps) through headphones. You raise a hand or press a button each time you hear one, even faintly. The audiologist finds the softest level you can detect at each pitch, called your threshold.

This is the routine test that maps how well each ear hears across the range of speech and everyday sound. If you want the full walk-through of the graph and its markings, see our pillar guide, How to Read Your Audiogram: PTA Symbols.

So what is the audiogram, then?

The audiogram is the picture of your results. It is a grid with pitch (frequency, in Hertz) running left to right, from low pitches to high, and loudness (in decibels) running top to bottom, from soft at the top to loud at the bottom.

Your audiologist marks the softest sound you heard at each pitch. Join those marks and you have a line for each ear. A line sitting near the top means good hearing; a line dropping toward the bottom means sounds had to be louder before you heard them.

According to ASHA, the audiogram shows the type, degree and configuration of hearing loss. In short: the audiogram is what the PTA test creates.

Then why do people call the average "PTA" too?

Here is where the confusion deepens. PTA also stands for "pure-tone average." This is a single number worked out by averaging your thresholds at a few important speech frequencies, commonly 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz.

So the same letters cover two things:

• Pure-tone audiometry — the test.
• Pure-tone average — a summary number pulled from that test's results.

Both come from the same session, which is exactly why the terms blur together. When a report says "PTA: 45 dB," it means the average, not the test name.

Why do so many people confuse PTA and the audiogram?

A few reasons pile up:

• The test and the graph happen in one appointment, so they feel like one thing.
• The abbreviation PTA does double duty (test and average).
• Hospital paperwork often just hands you the graph and a number, without labelling which is which.
• Everyday speech treats "getting a PTA" and "getting an audiogram" as the same errand.

None of this is wrong, exactly. It just helps to know the underlying difference when you are reading a report or talking to a specialist.

What does a hospital audiogram actually show?

A typical audiogram from a hospital or clinic shows:

• Separate results for each ear (right and left, usually marked O and X for air conduction).
• Thresholds across frequencies, from low to high pitch.
• The degree of any loss — mild, moderate, severe or profound — read from how far down the marks sit.
• Often a pure-tone average figure and sometimes bone-conduction marks too.

What it does not do by itself is diagnose the cause. Age-related hearing loss, for example, often shows up first in the higher pitches on the audiogram, but confirming the reason and the plan is a clinical judgement, not something the graph decides alone (NIDCD). The graph is evidence; the audiologist reads it in context.

Does this change what you should do next?

Not really — and that is the reassuring part. Whether you call it a PTA or an audiogram, the sensible step is the same: have the test done properly and have the results explained to you.

If you have noticed turning the TV up, asking people to repeat themselves, or struggling in noisy rooms, a straightforward hearing test will give you the audiogram and the numbers to work from. You can book a hearing test with our RCI-registered audiologists, and they will talk you through your own graph line by line.

Note one safety point: if hearing loss comes on suddenly in one ear, or arrives with pain, discharge or dizziness, treat it as urgent and see an ENT doctor or audiologist quickly rather than waiting for a routine appointment.