[Artguy]

http://www.digital-recordings.com/

Here is a free online hearing test. There are some really good low to high grade hearing tests at this web site which will really give you a feel for how golden your ears really are. Check it out and run the test for free. I did, and it was an eye opener. Made me think really hard about how loud I play my music whether with speakers, IEMs or Headphones.

Also, here is a really good article about how loud to play your music and how the mind quickly compensates for the loudness of your music, making you reach for your volume control to increase the sound level when you should not.

http://www.headwize.com/articles/hearing_art.htm

Happy listening, but for the sake of your hearing, turn it down and keep it that way!

 

[fishcarver]

Good article. I was surprised to learn just how little it takes to do major damage to ones ears. I have become much more interested in this after seriously exacerbating my tinnitus with my first set of IEMs. Too loud plus too long makes for a very nasty constant high pitched ringing. Although it is now too late for my ears I hope that this thread will help bring this problem to the attention of others who are just starting out with headphones so they will have the opportunity to avoid this unnecessary damage.

 

[flamerz]

This has been posted before. The calibration doesn't work for me. =/

 

[Artguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flamerz /img/forum/go_quote.gif This has been posted before. The calibration doesn't work for me. =/

I had the same problem with calibration at first, but there are several levels of tests, and for some reason one of them doesn't work for me, but the others do. Check out one of the other tests, and maybe it will work better.

Also, even though I didn't get an audible tone on one of the test's calibration phase, I still went ahead with the test, and it worked all right from that point on. The tones are just barely audible, but that is the point as they are trying to find the threshold volume at each frequency.

At the very least, it will make us Hi-fiers more aware and protective of our hearing, which is more fragile than we realize.

 

[flamerz]

Ah, thanks for the advice. Will do.

 

[milkpowder]

Couldn't get the second calibration to work either. Went ahead and did the test anyway and found out I couldn't hear 20kHz in my right ear

Either it was because I set the level too soft or my hearing's really gone... I'm only 19! Can get 18kHz on both ears and 20kHz in left ear.

 

[nrwilk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder /img/forum/go_quote.gif found out I couldn't hear 20kHz in my right ear Either it was because I set the level too soft or my hearing's really gone... I'm only 19! Can get 18kHz on both ears and 20kHz in left ear.

Don't worry. It could just be how your body is. 20kHz is pretty high. I don't think many people can ever hear that high at all.

=o)

nrwilk

 

[LFC_SL]

milkpowder, you know that youth alarm in this country? The one that emits a noise in 17kHz-20kHz range. Incidentally, once you become 20, your hearing will have been degraded with age to render the alarm inaudible. FYI I can still hear the alarm at 19. Your ears are just natural. Pretty soon we'll be the old fogies asking why all the kids are screaming "turn that off"

 

[Artguy]

As far as the online hearing test, the manual choice is much finer, and gives better results than the auto. Spend a little time, and you will be able to map exactly how each ear responds to specific frequency falloff. Pretty interesting stuff. As for the calibration problem, you can choose manual on that as well, instead of aural, and use a Radio Shack decibel meter to get it calibrated just right.

At 51, I am afraid that my range of hearing is not what I thought it was. I can hear all the way down to 30HZ in left and 20Hz in right (barely) but cut out at 14Khz on left and 16Khz on right.

So, here's an idea... maybe a lot of the variation we hear on the forum about which phones do it for us is based partly on how we perceive those wavelenghts with our particular set of ears at one particular time in our life. Kind of explains a lot of the different opinions we have here...

 

[Ikarios]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFC_SL /img/forum/go_quote.gif milkpowder, you know that youth alarm in this country? The one that emits a noise in 17kHz-20kHz range. Incidentally, once you become 20, your hearing will have been degraded with age to render the alarm inaudible. FYI I can still hear the alarm at 19. Your ears are just natural. Pretty soon we'll be the old fogies asking why all the kids are screaming "turn that off"

FWIW, my dad is 43 and he can hear it just fine. I was rather shocked when he told me he could hear it; he didn't get what was so surprising. Figures

 

[Mher6]

for curiosities sake does anyone have a audio file of that teen alarm?

 

[JSTpt1022]

Doesn't this test depend GREATLY on the frequency response of the headphones being used? For instance the HD280s that roll off considerably on either end of the audio band.

 

[GlorytheWiz825]

Seen this link before but still a good post.

 

[hyungryul]

none of those test work on both of my 2 computers...
I just get red X after installing java

 

[ronmtorres]

thanks for this

imho, all head-fi members should take this test