Can You Hear Like a Teenager?

[sorindafabico]

28yo

Fine until 16kHz
Barely audible at 17kHz

Former musician and heavy user of earphones.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Related to the earplug statement on that page, I recently found all kinds of information on a website I used for testing my sound system in every way imaginable. The site has various hearing tests of its own, and allows you to simulate different types/brands of earplugs in different situations. (to illustrate different volumes and frequencies affected) Apparently wet toilet paper works surprisingly well in general. :lol:
(though not specialized for music like the ones in the link)

 

[mojoey]

I'm 15 and I only could hear 17 Khz. Oh well.

 

[Donamy]

Huh ?

 

[Ark]

I'm not even gonna try it. All my hobbies revolve around earsplitting noise.

 

[blixel]

I'm 36. At first I thought I must be going deaf because I couldn't hear any of them. Then I switched to my headphones and could easily hear 8kHz but none of the others. I switched back to my main speakers and found that if I turn them up much higher than how I usually have them set, then I could hear 8kHz easily.

I also noticed that if I tilted my head slightly to the side, the 10kHz was clearly audible. I played that one several times and found there is definitely a direction where I can clearly hear it, and there is definitely a direction where I can clearly not hear it. The same was true for 12kHz, it was only audible depending on which direction my head was tilted.

14kHz seems to be on the very edge of my hearing threshold. With my head tilted to a very specific angle, I can just barely perceive something that sounds like it might be sound. Perhaps if I didn't have a PC fan and an oxygen pump running in the background I'd be able to pick that one up.

The rest of them are totally silent.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

22 years old, spent 4 month working at the airport around CFM 56s, CF34s, and V2500s at idle.
Could hear clearly up to 17 kHz, got a strange sound at 18kHz that I think is the headphones vibrating at a lower harmonic, then could hear the 19 and 20 khz, which the cats did NOT like, even when I used headphones. :lol: Lost it at 21 khz, though.

 

[donatelo200]

I'm 17 and can hear up to 19 kHz with no problem. I can hear 20 kHz if i turn my speakers all the way up.

 

[Quick_Nick]

I recommend this page/site: http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencycheckhigh.php
If you hit the download link (down arrow next to play buttons), you get WAV format which gets rid of extra noise caused by the mp3 format on the web. (likely what MaverickSawyer heard) My speakers give a very annoying buzz while doing low frequency tests if I don't download the WAV.

Also: http://www.audiocheck.net/blindtests_index.php
I feel like I should be able to able to tell differences between closer frequencies, but I guess not...

Along with all this though, I'm glad I'm not one of those people who have to pay $20,000 to be satisfied with their music. I enjoy not hearing a difference between my music and your "high-quality" stuff.

 

[jedidia]

Also, don't make the test when you're drunk. Alcohol influence lowers your hearing range significantly (yes, dear sound engineers, that's one of the reasons why you shouldn't drink before the gig!)

 

[Ghostrider]

All my hobbies revolve around earsplitting noise.

I know the feeling. Had a girlfriend like that myself, once.

 

[jedidia]

What, her hobbies involved earsplitting noise, or she generated earsplitting noise? :lol:

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I've lost a region of hearing in a particular range, but don't remember which one (guess I'm losing some memory too?). Anyway, the health and safety people gripe at me every year because of it (not like they have all my previous tests in the folder that they are holding at the time).

I've worked around aircraft for 10 years, then moved to industrial maintenance, both involve high speed machines that are really loud. So despite (often) double hearing protection, loud noise over time will still get you.

For some fun/future reference... The EA-6B aircraft (under tension, meaning ready for a cat-shot) is without a doubt the loudest freaking thing I've ever heard. It's so loud that it's painfull, makes people bones hurt it's so bad...

 

[Izack]

21, and hearing up to 19kHz easily enough. My hearing is obviously better than my eyesight...

 

[Ghostrider]

I can hear as a teenager as well, it seems.

It doesn't mean I'm going to turn into a shambling, mindless creature who wanders the streets groaning and cutting itself with paper, doesn't it? I haven't even been bitten by one!

 

[Moach]

well, the high limit for human hearing is somewhere around 20kHz - after that, dogs and other animals still get an extra octave or so, but i've been told it's very uncomfortable for them to hear such frequencies in high volume....

anyhow, i'm pretty proud that my brain can even interpret anything going on more than 15 thousand times a second - that's pretty fast


having been on a band for 10 years surely must have done a number on my hearing... still haven't done the test, as i don't have my proper headset handy right now


but you should keep in mind - it's not all hardware that can even reproduce such high frequencies well... most average speakers can't reach that far, and even some expensive ones will fail, since the whole industry is generally bass-biased


it may take some studio-grade gear or at least a good pair of Bose (or similarly high-end) headphones to get a decent test...

if not, you may be testing your hardware before you get to test your ears

 

[Spacethingy]

20 kHz on maxed-out ear-phones. Maybe a ghost of something on 21? There's an annoying popping sound at the start and end that I wonder may be tricking my brain into hearing things...

 

[FADEC]

I recommend this page/site: http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencycheckhigh.php
If you hit the download link (down arrow next to play buttons), you get WAV format which gets rid of extra noise caused by the mp3 format on the web.

Thanks.

But doesn't help in my case unfortunately. I don't hear aynthing until very shortly before he starts to say "15 k". When I use my headphones and turn the volume up I already hear it at "16 k". But above 16 k there is just dead silence. But since I am above 25 (roughly 10 more years) I shouldn't be surprised.

I often wear headphones. Especially while gaming, and that very loud. This is against any medical advice. And I do so for about 20 years now. But my ears still aren't bad. I pass any normal hearing test without missing a tone which I am supposed to hear. Same for my eyes. More than 20 years of daily computer screen exposure, and I don't wear glasses, nor do I have to do so for now

The loudest noise I am exposed to, for longer periods of time, comes from Microsoft Flight Simulator by the way. Flying from Frankfurt to Boston for example, several hours of loud windscreen noise leaves marks. Only temporarily during the following night though (a slight tinnitus). But I just can't dispense with a real sound environment while flying (and my upcoming home cockpit project will only make it worse I guess).

---------- Post added at 10:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:05 PM ----------

Also, don't make the test when you're drunk. Alcohol influence lowers your hearing range significantly

I have to test this! I already bought 3 liters of beer today :lol: (seriously)

 

[Gr_Chris_pilot]

up to 19 clearly for me.... 20=nothing i am 23

 

[Astronut25]

My headphones cut off at 16k, my speakers at 17.5k, but my ears can go higher, my computer is currently emitting a higher frequency noise than that (usually precedes a hardware failure):compbash: