[GotNoRice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood Why stop at a little hearing test? Go for a real hearing test. -Ed

The highest frequency it appears they tested you on is 8Khz. Hearing loss caused by excessive loud volumes, I believe, causes hearing loss first around the area of 3Khz and then spreads to the higher and lower frequencies as the condition worsens. This appears to be what that test you posted is oriented toward.

The test that is the topic of this thread instead refers to the natural hearing loss that occurs due to age, which primarily affects the high frequencies starting with the highest and working down. In any case, all of the frequencies being tested here are far higher than 8Khz.

 

[GotNoRice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamWill Could we please have .flac or at least .shn for cross-platform compatibility? I'm hoping my Linux system will be able to play these, but I'm not optimistic.

The test tones I made were done with Cool Edit Pro, however there is a freeware cross-platform program called Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) that can also generate test tones. On my system, when I used audacity the tones also contained these strange clicking noises which I found to be highly obnoxious, but it should suffice for testing purposes.

 

[gshan]

edit: Thank you seeder(s)! I'll keep it open after it's done.

 

[AdamWill]

rice: oh, good point, I forgot about that.

As I posted on HardOCP, on my headphones I can't hear anything above 15.5KHz. On my HTPC / speaker setup I can hear all the way up to 20KHz - and so can my partner, who's 31 and therefore shouldn't be able to. I'm confused as to what's going on with this.

Will try with audacity, will be interesting...

 

[halcyon]

This is not any sane way to measure hearing tresholds. Reasons summarized shortly:

- non-flat headphones (+ unkown playback chain linearity)
- background noise not controlled
- level not controlled
- no double-checking, no random controls, no mixed order
- not a blind test

Go to an audiologist like Edwood and get it measured. That's the only way to know.

My hearing measures pretty flat up-to 11kHz (measured by an audiologist).

Beyond that there is no international standardised scientific hearing test.

Why?

Because the results can vary more than +/-10dB depending on day tested!

So results above 11kHz can be very suspect, unless done by controlled conditions, in a silenced test room, by a professional audiologist, and done several times over and averaged statistically.

Also, what does hearing beyond 8kHz matter for hearing accuracy in the real world?

Very little, say scientific perceptual listening tests.

Broadband hearing loss in the frequency range from 1.5 - 6 kHz is the most important and handicapping factor in hearing.

Once this happens, not only ability to hear, but accuracy to make perceptual judgements becomes very unreliable. One hears something as "good" on day 1, but really "bad" on day 2. Variance in perceptual estimation grows a lot statistically. Hearing becomes less trustworthy.

Also, there are at least two different types of broad categories of hearing damage that can occur:

1) raising of minimum audible tresholds (you need more volume to hear a sound)
2) broadening of critical bands (you need two sounds to be wider apart in frequency in order to discern them from each other)

Normal treshold hearing tests only test for the first type of hearing loss, not the second type.

However, the second type of hearing loss can be more important.

It plays an important part in how we understand and make sense of sounds.

Ever talk to a senior citizen who has trouble making out what you say, but tells you not to yell? That's a person with still relative good tresholds, but problems in critical band limits. Yelling will not help the person to hear better and no amount of hearing aid will either.

Most of us will go down that path if we are lucky to live that long, btw. It's somewhat natural progression (aging) of our bodies.

 

[discord]

Quote:

Originally Posted by halcyon This is not any sane way to measure hearing tresholds. Reasons summarized shortly: - non-flat headphones (+ unkown playback chain linearity)

Yeah, I cheated and used grados..

 

[PinkFloyd]

My ears are about the only part of me remaining that haven't gone pear shaped...... I've got ears like a bat.

 

[ken36]

The thought of taking that test scares me to the extent that I'm afraid to take it. I would never be able to find the rationale for spending money insanely anymore.

 

[Kraegorn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GotNoRice The highest frequency it appears they tested you on is 8Khz. Hearing loss caused by excessive loud volumes, I believe, causes hearing loss first around the area of 3Khz and then spreads to the higher and lower frequencies as the condition worsens. This appears to be what that test you posted is oriented toward. The test that is the topic of this thread instead refers to the natural hearing loss that occurs due to age, which primarily affects the high frequencies starting with the highest and working down. In any case, all of the frequencies being tested here are far higher than 8Khz.

If what you say is correct, this could be the reason why certain headphone veterans prefer a brighter sound signature, cause they can't hear the lower frequencies too well.

This is a very interesting thread, as it evokes the worst fear of every head-fier out there.

 

[ATAT]

What IS the worst fear of every head-fi er? not to be able to hear the music with headphones?

 

[S.W.]

I can hear below 20hz...and somewhere above 21khz.
However that is highly annoying and uncomfortable, making me almost retch everytime just listening to those low/high frequency.

Humans are not dogs or insects, don't need test/torture the ear and your stomach like that.

 

[Trippytiger]

I think I made it up to about 15,000Hz-15,500Hz on my RP-HJE50s. I wonder how accurate that is?

 

[setmenu]

This is an interesting read,the hearing ranges of various animals.


http://www.lsu.edu/deafness/HearingRange.html




.

 

[halcyon]

I think some may have misunderstood the point of hearing tests.

Of course many people can hear above X kHz sounds (where x can be 20kHz, 25 kHz or even 28kHz).

It's a matter of sound pressure.

Pump 22kHz to a persons ear at 150dB, I'm sure most persons below the age of 40 would be able to sense it.

But that's not the point!

The point is testing your relative treshold of hearing at sane nominal levels (say 85dB).

That's where you start to see people's ability to hear diminish (esp. for high frequencies for older people).

Suddenly you can't hear x kHz anymore when the playback level is normal, instead of insane.

And below 20Hz it's not pure tones anymore, it's just beats or sensations rather than hearing.

 

[Wmcmanus]

[size=xx-large]What?!?!?[/size]