Hello,
Today I was testing the most essential part of My audio equipement - My ears.
The result was disspointing, I can only hear in range of 35Hz-12.400Hz. It means I cant hear almost a half of frequency spectrum recorded on a CD.
So, in My case it means i shouldnt be worried about frequencies, transients and harmonics above 13KHz (the good side). The bad side is that I cant hear the music like it is recorded. Nothing to do about this.
I was reading that overall human ear, above age of 30, cant hear the frequencies above 13Khz. Till 20, we can hear up to 16KHz, and kids can hear up to 20KHz.
Maybe We should use kids for valid listening tests, and all We can do is to believe them, because most of Us cant hear above 13KHz in the age of 30.
Today I was testing the most essential part of My audio equipement - My ears.
The result was disspointing, I can only hear in range of 35Hz-12.400Hz. It means I cant hear almost a half of frequency spectrum recorded on a CD.
So, in My case it means i shouldnt be worried about frequencies, transients and harmonics above 13KHz (the good side). The bad side is that I cant hear the music like it is recorded. Nothing to do about this.
I was reading that overall human ear, above age of 30, cant hear the frequencies above 13Khz. Till 20, we can hear up to 16KHz, and kids can hear up to 20KHz.
Maybe We should use kids for valid listening tests, and all We can do is to believe them, because most of Us cant hear above 13KHz in the age of 30.
..problem is that superpositions of higher frequencies creates patters with lower frequency that is clearly audible...so. don't cut your equipment down...and also one thing is what levels you can consciously pick out and react to.. something else is the performance of your psychoacoustic hearing that sums everything to make sense of it all.....You can't get too much bandwidth...
Last edited:
Don't worry, there's no "music" above 13KHz. And to listen to music I believe we use not just ear but "brain". Our ear may not hear anything but we can perceive something from within the frequency.
What will you do with the kids? Asking them if there is a bell sound in the background?
How have you performed the test and at what levels ? You may well hear above where you believe the cut off to be but the "response" of the ear could be 30, 40 even 60db down compared to midband.
I can hear to around 13.5 to 14 khz at quite low levels, beyond that the sensitivity drops away although seems to recover slightly above 16khz although the signal has to be some 40db higher than say at 10k to be audible. I can "hear" out to around 18k+ at that level.
Did you use headphones or speakers ?
I'm 49yrs by the way.... just the right side of 50
I can hear to around 13.5 to 14 khz at quite low levels, beyond that the sensitivity drops away although seems to recover slightly above 16khz although the signal has to be some 40db higher than say at 10k to be audible. I can "hear" out to around 18k+ at that level.
Did you use headphones or speakers ?
I'm 49yrs by the way.... just the right side of 50
How have you performed the test and at what levels ? You may well hear above where you believe the cut off to be but the "response" of the ear could be 30, 40 even 60db down compared to midband.
I can hear to around 13.5 to 14 khz at quite low levels, beyond that the sensitivity drops away although seems to recover slightly above 16khz although the signal has to be some 40db higher than say at 10k to be audible. I can "hear" out to around 18k+ at that level.
Did you use headphones or speakers ?
I'm 49yrs by the way.... just the right side of 50
I was using My PC and Cool Edit software for generating tones on the headphones output. Headphones are Sennheiser HD424. Level was at 0dB. I tried to increase the level by 10dB, all i was able to hear was noise.
Im 41
Ah... I use a Tenma function generator with calibrated output. My headphones (for this) are very cheap (as in <£1.50) open type multimedia ones.
An interesting test (talking of harmonics) is to switch between sine and square wave. Above around 4k ? from memory there is no change to the sound or timbre.
There a good web link... I'll post it in a minute if I can find it.
An interesting test (talking of harmonics) is to switch between sine and square wave. Above around 4k ? from memory there is no change to the sound or timbre.
There a good web link... I'll post it in a minute if I can find it.
Here it is... and a lot depends on your PC etc but good fun,
Equal loudness contours and audiometry - Test your own hearing
Equal loudness contours and audiometry - Test your own hearing
Thanks for the link. My sound card is low quality onboard one. But playing tones in loop mode, from output to input it goes pretty straight up to 18KHz.
Anyway, to use a tone generator instead, would be much better option, just I dont have one
I guess it's hard to put absolute values on all of this as we have no absolute reference as regards level etc and we all use different h/phones and signal sources.
I have an older friend that loves music and has a top quality Sugden set up and he can't hear over about 4 or 5 khz... and that was several years ago. I was amazed to be honest. Yet he can pick out amps etc where one is better than the other so there is hope for us all I guess
I have an older friend that loves music and has a top quality Sugden set up and he can't hear over about 4 or 5 khz... and that was several years ago. I was amazed to be honest. Yet he can pick out amps etc where one is better than the other so there is hope for us all I guess
this is where magic of DIY speakers comes handy, one can use EQ and build a set of speakers to overcome the shortages of his/her own hearing to some lvl.
In my case -Captain Zetor reporting from first class 54 hp russian tractor"s command bridge- it is a musthave, good to listen to stuff as i might had prior my hearing got injured in my dayli job.
In my case -Captain Zetor reporting from first class 54 hp russian tractor"s command bridge- it is a musthave, good to listen to stuff as i might had prior my hearing got injured in my dayli job.
I agree we cant claim that "tests" We are performing at home without professional equipement are valid. I was just curious.
About choseing or building a good amplifier there are other factors too we should take in mind. Its really amazing that about your older friend, he probably enjoy to music more then we can
About choseing or building a good amplifier there are other factors too we should take in mind. Its really amazing that about your older friend, he probably enjoy to music more then we can
Thanks for that info, and the link.
I think it should be mandatory that so-called 'golden ears' publish the results of their hearing tests (professionally-done, of course).
It's hard to believe that none of the 'senior writers' at the audio publications have hearing loss........
I agree completely.
I don't agree... what you loose in hearing your brain compensates......no worries... brain wear is a strong tool....
And theres so so much more to evaluating a system.. pace, timing, musical coherence...that has have noting to do with the subtle overtones your brain so readily recreates...
And theres so so much more to evaluating a system.. pace, timing, musical coherence...that has have noting to do with the subtle overtones your brain so readily recreates...
Last edited:
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.