Blog - Everybody Hz
Everybody Hz
When people get older they stop hearing high-pitched sounds. I had read before at The Register about the ringtone that adults can't hear, but more interestingly I just learnt of this Japanese site that has a Flash thing to test up to what pitch you can hear (click the white thing to go to the right page, and then click the cat to start).
I was relieved to find out that I can hear up to 15,000Hz, which isn't bad for my age. The page says that people often stop hearing 14,000Hz in their 20's or 30's.
By the way this week I just had my annual health check at work, and in one room where they check height, weight and eyesight, there's also some capsule-like device for checking your hearing! Every year I'm intrigued by it, but unfortunately it's not part of the plan our company gets. Last year I even told the nurse "I really want to try this!!" but she said "No, you can't.", damn...
Being that I used to play drums, and never used earplugs (while my bandmates did), I'm a bit concerned whether my hearing might be lower than average. At least now I know that I can hear high-pitched sounds that some others can't. :)
So, what's your score?
Posted on January 19, 2007 at 20:30 | Tweet
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I've been concerned about my hearing too. I gave the test thing a try and I could hear up to 16,000Hz. I guess that's good? I still feel like my hearing is crap.
Posted by Brad on January 19, 2007 at 23:48
last I hear is the 14.000 Hz one ... i guess it is not too bad for a guy turning 40 this year ... I was able to hear that mosquito sound from the register article though ... what's next ? alzheimer self tests ?? who are you ? and who am i ??
Posted by Peter Nacken on January 20, 2007 at 07:50
Pretty interesting! I could hear up to 16,000Hz surprisingly enough. Speaking up check ups. Went to the optometrist yesterday and now I'm wearing contacts. Gonna look around at glasses this weekend...I'm getting old!
Posted by Jon on January 20, 2007 at 10:17
Hey, thanks for the great link. I've been wondering what 15 years of working in the live music arena and constant headphones while commuting for the past 4 years has done to my ears!
The last one I can hear is 14 000HZ, not bad since I also am turning 40 this year. But then again, I couldn't hear the "Mosquito". Shite. It's all downhill from here, isn't it.
Posted by Martine on January 20, 2007 at 16:48
Oh god, I'm not even 20 and I could only faintly hear 15,000 ;_;
This is depressing.
Posted by soundboz on January 21, 2007 at 03:24
i couldn't hear 14,000. but i'm hearing something of the mosquito thing, but it just sounds like traffic and someone laughing, should i be hearing more? hmm.
Posted by william on January 22, 2007 at 03:27
Interesting to hear everyone's results! :)
I couldn't really figure out the mosquito thing either. The sound quality of the clip seemed rather bad to me, or is that the mosquito?! I'll assume that I just don't hear it.
Martine, I'm surprised of your age, I had always thought you were about same as me (I'm 28). :)
Jon, I have rather bad vision too, but so far I've been surviving only wearing glasses to watch TV and at the theater, sometimes concerts.
I'm not sure whether I should start wearing glasses everyday, perhaps my eyes would get used to it and my eyesight would only get worse. Or maybe if I don't my eyesight will only get worse anyway. Might be a dead end. :)
Posted by Patrick on January 22, 2007 at 10:37
Hmmmm...
I'm 42 and I could hear up to 16.000... on this mosquito test - but only very soft on my left ear. How did you measure yourself? I used a slightly good headset that should be able to reproduce the tone. To make sure the headset is not broken at 16.000 I turned it around and found that it is my right ear not working - and not the ear phone. Does these sound get softer for you step by step or are the all the same load? Or is there barrier above you do not hear at all? For me it got softer step by step and the 16.000 I hear very soft (on one ear)
Very interesting test indeed!
Best
Markus
Posted by Markus Kreisel on January 23, 2007 at 07:18
That must be why you care about SACD and DVD Audio. :) Interesting that one of your ears is better than the other!
I used my not-bad-but-no-Bang-&-Olufsen headphones. I could only merely hear 15,000 (and then nothing over that), but before that I think I didn't really notice a volume difference, or perhaps just a slight one.
Posted by Patrick on January 23, 2007 at 09:35
OK, I have some update. I now used my Beyerdynamic DT 931 and repeated the test. I now can hear 16.000 on both ears, even while it is still softer on the right one. So before you trash your ears better first give it another try with good head phone playing high frequencies. I even feel something on one ear at 18.000, but the white noise of the test is overlaying it so I might be in error. I don't hear that white noise on right so I'm a bit alarmed that this might be the beginning of something bad. Not to say, that I expect some advantage from this while listening to music :-)
I'm also pretty sure to hear the advantage of SACD and DVD Audio - but not of frequencies but because of the better dynamic. The most pleasure comes from the 5.1 ;-)
Posted by Markus Kreisel on January 23, 2007 at 09:51
I'm really fascinated by the test. So I started some blind tests with my girl friend :-) If you press the buttons yourself you might think you hear something that should be there. So I tested my girl friend and she tested me. After my trainings I can now hear the 18.000 on both ears with that mosquito test (Btw: I have there only a short sound either left, right or on both ears). My girl friend, who failed with the head set at frequencies over 14.000 managed that test with 18.000 without problems. And she is even one year older as I am :-)
Get yourself a good head phone and you probably will skip one step up the test ladder! (Btw: I now used also some better sound card (DMX 6fire) than before and the result became even better, even with soft volume.
Patrick: Next time you must fight your way into that sound capsule at your doctors place. In such an environment optimized to play high frequencies well your result will be much, much better!!!
Posted by Markus Kreisel on January 23, 2007 at 10:18
Uhm, so headphones might have a lot to do with it, or you both have bionic ears..!
> Get yourself a good head phone and you probably will skip one step up the test ladder!
I won't get kick-ass headphones just for that test, but I'll try again when I do [someday]... :)
> Next time you must fight your way into that sound capsule at your doctors place.
Yes, I really want to! Maybe I should tell them say that I'll pay for it myself. Or maybe I should go and ask an otologist.
(Funnily, "oto" in Japanese means "sound", though the "ot" in otology comes from Latin.)
Posted by Patrick on January 23, 2007 at 10:33
>>Uhm, so headphones might have a lot to do with it, or you both have bionic ears..!
No, not at all. There is nothing special with us except the perhaps better head phones. Another thing is, that if I push up the volume I might be able to hear 20.000 or 22.000. But probably that must be so loud that after a while blood will drip my ears and the test sound is the last thing I ever heard :-) Btw: I made the test with soft volume... They tones are ugly enough.
>>Yes, I really want to! Maybe I should tell them say that I'll pay for it myself. Or maybe I should go and ask an otologist.
Perhaps that is good idea. My girl friend has the effect that her ears fill up with some lard after a time. The otologist tests her before and after removing that lard and there is a major difference in the results. With the test equipment she means to remember that she was able to hear even 22.000 last time. But I think this is also related to the volume, equipment and the way it is tested. I doubt it a bit while it is above specifications of human body.
Where I have no doubt is, that a SACD can sound better to some ears if payed on equipment able to reproduce higher frequencies.
Posted by Markus Kreisel on January 24, 2007 at 01:38