[Linyanti]

Everyone is probably familiar with the Mosquito test. I can definitely hear the 12 KHz but at 15 KHz, I can only tell that there is some sound like a long soft click is being made. (age 55)
 
My 16 and 17 year old children will scream in agony if the 17.4 KHz tone is played. It is absolutely delightful to be able to passively bug them. (pun intended)
 
However, most of the important acoustic sound and singing are lower than 12 KHz.
 
Are expensive headphones a waste on us older folk? My own theroy is that we maximize the quality of the sound that we can hear so that it does seem worth it.
 
I can also see why frequency equalization and preferences are so different from person to person. A friend is 30 and he definitely could hear the 15 KHz clearly but not the 17.4 KHz
 
http://www.teenbuzz.org/

 

[kmj2587]

I would not consider quality audio gear lost on older folks.  It's pretty easy to get gear that's simply capable of producing very high frequencies, but it's more difficult (read: expensive) to find and acquire gear that will produce clarity and accurate instrument timbre.  Those last two things (along with myriad other things I'm sure others will mention) are what will really make for a quality audio experience, at least more so than simply being able to reproduce tones basically unrecognizable as music.  The very high frequencies may be helpful for overtones and other sorts of detail, but they're not an absolute necessity.
 
Edit: On the subject of the mosquito noise, I can still hear the 20 khz tone at 25.  My main concern with this would be how healthy sudden blasts of high frequency noise would be for the hearing of the teenagers who typically use this.