I find that the higher you go, you lose the actual noise of the sound, it becomes more like a presence. Same at low frequencies (expect I get rattles in my room, so the effect is lost).
When you say hear, I assumed you meant (seemingly wrongly) that it's distinguishable, not just a presence. That's why I put mine down at 17kHz - the presence stops around 19kHz.
When you say hear, I assumed you meant (seemingly wrongly) that it's distinguishable, not just a presence. That's why I put mine down at 17kHz - the presence stops around 19kHz.
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Rather than being obsessed with how high you can hear, the most critical band is around 2 to 5 khz... and around 4 khz is where the ear naturally most sensitive due to the effect shape and physical properties of the ear... and as a result this is where damage always occurs first.
What you should be testing is whether your hearing approximates in sensitivity to the well know Fletcher-Munson equal loudness contours.
If you need the same level at 4 khz compared to say 2 or 8 khz, that's when you should start to worry...
Equal-loudness contour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
What you should be testing is whether your hearing approximates in sensitivity to the well know Fletcher-Munson equal loudness contours.
If you need the same level at 4 khz compared to say 2 or 8 khz, that's when you should start to worry...
Equal-loudness contour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is also the area mastering engineers like to add a lift on recordings. They will take a wide Q EQ and lift the overall balance of the music around the 5-7k area - note this Q extends down to the edge of 1k and up to around 20k. So if you find that you can't turn up a CD because it starts to make you flinch a little or actually hurt it's usually that area of the FR that is the culprit in my experience and going by the way I have seen a lot of friends and family listening to stereos I wouldn't doubt if this is the source of a great deal of hearing loss.
i can hear the wave before/as soon as he starts at 22khz(easily as well as distortions being caused back by his speaking in the mic I believe.) with the downloaded file, however with the online test I can faintly at 22khz and then not till 18khz(faintly at 19). using old ibm pc at work and bose(they were a gift from a bank I do business with) noise cancelling headphones.
Damn, that sucks, since I was playing around with sine waves the other day on my commercial system and it had a peak at 4,000Hz...may have been the microphone, but still...
I wouldn't worry about it too much. I think most mics just sound bright if you don't kill a little 3kHz - some will have a deemphasis built in around that area for this reason. Also remember that right around that area is the most subjective area of the equal loudness curve - it goes up for noises and it slopes down for tones.
17K OK I am getting up there in years. When I was in my 20's I was tested to above 21. My current estimate is based on when testing tweeters, about when I quit hearing them. ( under 1W) . Now, my wife has hearing that can put dogs to shame. She is me secret test set. Problem is, my speakers and amps have to pass her test. Most fail.
So why do we believe 20 average London men in the 1800's define out "normal" hearing?
So why do we believe 20 average London men in the 1800's define out "normal" hearing?
I have to get my hearing tested every 2 years. ( contractually)
Last time it was tested, April 2009, it was better than average across the board.
I have just tried the mosquito test, unmodulated, and modulated both very audible !
My name is Andy and I'm an old man (well...56 actually)
Andy
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Last time it was tested, April 2009, it was better than average across the board.
I have just tried the mosquito test, unmodulated, and modulated both very audible !
My name is Andy and I'm an old man (well...56 actually)
Andy
.
Interesting, I'll try that too. I suppose that would indicate that above that frequency distortion is a lot harder or impossible to hear?
BTW Mooly, thanks for the pointer to the equal loudness contours test, I've done the test and the my profile indeed looks in shape like those shown on the page. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that we've been built to hear speech frequencies louder than others.
BTW Mooly, thanks for the pointer to the equal loudness contours test, I've done the test and the my profile indeed looks in shape like those shown on the page. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that we've been built to hear speech frequencies louder than others.
Interesting isn't it 
If you get chance try the square wave test. It puzzles me why at 4.7khz I lose the ability to differentiate the two because the 3rd harmonic at 14.1 khz heard as a tone on it's own is still perfectly audible.
Is this where critical bandwidth and masking comes into play. Perhaps the level I hear the 3rd is just too much "below" the fundamental and 2nd. Dunno... they are real cheapo headphones, the £0.99 ones lol
If you get chance try the square wave test. It puzzles me why at 4.7khz I lose the ability to differentiate the two because the 3rd harmonic at 14.1 khz heard as a tone on it's own is still perfectly audible.
Is this where critical bandwidth and masking comes into play. Perhaps the level I hear the 3rd is just too much "below" the fundamental and 2nd. Dunno... they are real cheapo headphones, the £0.99 ones lol
Let me ask this. You play the tones separately, not at the same time, right? I will use my Sony MDR-V6 HPs which are not too bad, with the e-mu 0404 sound card.
By the way, have you tried the other tests on the page I mentioned in the first post? I also found them interesting. For instance smallest difference in sound level, and smallest difference in pitch (frequency).
Blind Listening Tests
By the way, have you tried the other tests on the page I mentioned in the first post? I also found them interesting. For instance smallest difference in sound level, and smallest difference in pitch (frequency).
Blind Listening Tests
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