Can YOU hear 20khz?

[protos]

It´s all very well to worry that your tweeter or your amp is down 1db at 20 khz but can you really hear that far?
Recently I had a full battery of audio tests at the ENT (ear,nose,throat) doctor and he said I had excellent hearing.
However his as well most doctors tests are between 250hz and 8 or 10khz.
I knew from a special cd I have that my hearing at very high frquencies i.e over 14khz was rolling off quickly compared to the mean ideal.
So I set up an audiogram test at home with the special cd (20hz to 20 khz) and also used my 18 year old son to compare.
My son had excellent hearing especially at high frequencies where at 20khz he was almost 30db (more sensitive) above the mean level!
In my case and with the same 0db calibration my hearing matched his up to 12khz which is very good I think for my age (48).
However after 12 khz I have a sharp roll off and I am 30 db down at 16khz (compared to the ideal mean curve)which is absolutely the last frequency I can hear irrespective of level.
If I were a hi-fi component I would be deemed a disaster!
However in a log graph having almost 91/2 octaves of excellent and flat hearing it does not look too bad.
Depends how you look at it I guess.
How do you fare?

[jacco vermeulen]

Originally posted by protos
How do you fare?

Compared to you i'm Batman, doesn't imply it's an utter joy.

[bigwill]

My right ear probably still goes up to nearly 20Khz (18Khz is the highest my soundcard will go withough wrap-around)

My left ear only goes up to 14Khz for some reason. I'm 20

My ears 'sound good' though

[protos]

Originally posted by bigwill
My right ear probably still goes up to nearly 20Khz (18Khz is the highest my soundcard will go withough wrap-around)

My left ear only goes up to 14Khz for some reason. I'm 20

My ears 'sound good' though

I forgot to mention the following for those who want to try it themselves and have some test tones: According to the bell shaped curve human sensitivity at 20 khz is about 80 db down from 1khz.
So if you adjust the 1khz tone so it is barely audible then a person with good hearing should hear the 20 khz tone by turning the gain up by 80db.I think 18khz is around 60db down from memory.
However I would hesitate to use cheap speakers with a normal amp for this test because it may be likely that what one hears is distortion from overdriving the amp/tweeter trying to hear such a high frequency.
Reasonably good headphones are recommended - they are usually flat and can take a lot of volume.

[adason]

I have this cd and I find it usefull
http://www.digital-recordings.com/audiocd/audio.html
its easier to test your hearing with headphones rather than with speakers
headphones are more flat in their fr response, easier to drive, lower power, easier load for amp....

how do I do on that cd hearing test? not bad, my hearing goes up to 14-15kHz, I am little over 40

on the other note, I can see that by getting older, I am focused on different part of fr response spectra, as teeneger, I used to crank the hight up all the way, I enjoyed them, in contrary my father always turned the hights down, just midrange and base was fine for him, that makes me wonder what those old fart reviewers can hear...

[adrome00]

I tested my hearing a few years ago at age 35. I used calibration data for my Senheiser 580 headphones. It turned out pretty close to the standard curve, with some loss in the extreme highs from over 2000 hours of stage/gig experience. Nothing real bad, though. I had a higher perception of sub frequencies compared to standard norm.

Subjectively, my hearing drops off pretty much completely around 16 kHz, and I have no memory of ever hearing 20 kHz. Although, I've never tried to crank 130 dB of 20 kHz into my ears!

[Pano]

Originally posted by protos
Reasonably good headphones are recommended - they are usually flat and can take a lot of volume.

Volume yes, flat no. Most are not even close.

At 48 years old I don't hear 16K any more. That's good because the 15.75 KHz whine from televison doesn't bother me now.

[Hartono]

if you have extra high power 20 Khz signal added to the music, I bet you can hear it, otherwise...................probably not.

I wouldn't do 20khz using headphone for obvious reason.

I did try on the headphone once though , yes if I recall it's audible but very small .

[soongsc]

I think the point is not whether you can hear it or not, rather partial indication of how linear the system is free from additional harmonics and distortion.

[rcavictim]

When I was about 9, I remember I could clearly hear a wrist watch ticking placed on a table across the room in absolute silence. Sometimes with my parents in department stores I`d be bothered by the ultrasonic burglar alarms. In my late teens as I got to play with better audio gear and had test equipment I discovered I could hear just past 20 KHz.

Now in my 50`s I tested myself recently and cannot hear anything above 16 KHz, regardless of level. I have been exposed to angle grinders and machines all my life and in the early days did not take precautions like wearing hearing protectors. For the past 20 years or so I have been careful about hearing protection and I believe that my hearing could be a lot worse than it is. My ears are overly sensitive to loud impulse sounds and really short term exposure to loud music screws up my hearing for a long recovery period. I can still hear well enough to tune speakers in development and hear small amounts of distortion. I enjoy good sound and do not bother listening to anything less given a choice.

I do find that what some people consider normal bass is too much for me and it muddies up the HF part of the audio spectrum. I tend to listen now with system eq`d close to flat for the room.