# Costco Hearing Aid Tests: What are the "U" lines?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costco-hearing-aid-tests-what-are-the-u-lines/1014284>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 13, 2025, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costco-hearing-aid-tests-what-are-the-u-lines/1014284 "2025-02-13T21:05:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costco-hearing-aid-tests-what-are-the-u-lines/1014284/1 "2025-02-13T21:05:52Z")

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A few years ago, I took a hearing test from Costco to see if I needed hearing aids:

[![](https://i.imgur.com/9u2iSoa.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/9u2iSoa.jpeg)

The top lines are clear enough (level of hearing loss, by left/right ear, through air or bone conduction).

But there are two additional lines at the bottom with U symbols (or perhaps ∪), and I can’t find any information online about what they are supposed to represent. (Certainly I don’t have hearing loss anywhere near the 100+ dB level)

Does anyone know?

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**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costco-hearing-aid-tests-what-are-the-u-lines/1014284/2 "2025-02-14T00:28:39Z")

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I’ve poked around a bit and this link talks about ‘other symbols’

One of which is UCL which is for Uncomfortable Level

I think that might be it.

> **[How to read your hearing test results](https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/52516-The-abc-s-of-audiograms#measurement)**
>
> Curious how to read your audiogram, or hearing test results? We break it down for you step by step, plus examples of atypical audiograms.

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2025, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costco-hearing-aid-tests-what-are-the-u-lines/1014284/3 "2025-02-14T00:46:33Z")

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Thank you! That makes sense, and some random [reddit threads from Costco audiologists](https://www.reddit.com/r/HearingAids/comments/1favp5j/costco_presale_testing/) seem to confirm they do those tests.

I don’t _remember_ them ever having played loud sounds for me (and seems like 100 dB+ would be deafening?), but it was a few years ago, so maybe I just forgot. Or maybe the person just put in fake numbers because I didn’t need hearing aids anyway.

Anyhow, thank you! Mystery solved.