Frequency Response Match for Older Ears

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Hearing aids help with understanding speech, there is an element of personal adjustment after first using them, why shouldn't the same apply, in principle, to any other sound including music appreciation? I think it's going to depend upon your own hearing and the speaker and room as to whether eq is going to sound more "natural" to you, try it and report back. :)
 
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well the guys that test that know perfectly all about the ears, M&F and all curves and you are not biased during the test. I personally test mines every two years. that incredible with the older people how the notchs can impact the phrases and words understanding I noticed.... despite the brain makes shortcuts with several syllables to match them for the context understanding.... I assume it's more difficult with music according the spectrum (piano, claps....)
My audiologist explained that it is the consonants that create accents in speech, and they tend to be higher in frequency, which is why I was having problems understanding accents on TV - particularly British, Scottish, Irish.
 
I've noticed that the high frequencies are important for picking up the consonants. As somebody said before, your brain works some tricks using context etc to work it out. I personally don't worry much about frequencies above 15k which well exceeds my ability to hear these days. Even when I could hear 16-17K it never made much of a difference to me. IMO low distortion up to 12K is plenty to convey the music. As far as eqing speakers to match your hearing loss goes, it will sound unnatural to you and others. Your brain has already adjusted to how the world sounds through your ears.
 
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Young Vs Old

Since equal loudness charts are upside down from the frequency response charts we are use to seeing, I flipped this one. Seen is the 70 phon line of young vs old. We can see where the losses are.
 

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In what way has the brain adjusted?

We hear with our brain, the ear mechanism is the transducer that provides the brain with input signals that the brain interprets as sound. The brain learns what things are supposed to sound like. As we age and the transducer response changes, like reduced high frequency stimulus, the brain compensates to the best of it's ability. That's why when a person with hearing loss tries on a set of hearing aids things sound way too loud and too high pitched. It takes a month or so before the brain adapts to the new input pattern from the hearing aids and readjusts and things sound "normal" again.
 
Getting "used to it" is the adaptation of the brain trying to normalize the sound input. People who have chronic uncorrected hearing loss often also experience prominent tinnitus, the high pitched whine that is heard and that isn't really there. As the brain tries to compensate for the lack of high frequency input from the ear mechanism the added system gain can result in the spontaneous oscillation of tinnitus.
 
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I use a Fostex super tweeter for ME; when younger ears are listening with me; they can't stand the "extra" top octave. I have recently given the super tweeters their own amplifier now so I can adjust the gain for my hearing or younger listeners. Many people don't like super tweeters but I find it helps bring more life and "realism" to the recording. I have two sets of headphones; the better one is the AKG K 702. It has plenty of top octave for even my old ears. One of main goals was to get the speakers with enough top octave to sound like the AKG 'phones. Even though I have great loss in the top octave and half or so; without the super tweeters; there is definitely something "missing".
 
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Hearing loss is typically due to the loss of hair cells in the organ of Corti, the hair cells react in frequency tailored bands to the fluid movement generated by the middle ear linkage from the eardrum to the cochlea.

Exactly, and some of them also are necessary for the body equilibrium, helped with skin sensors and eyes to move in a plan or 3D aera. It is one of the reasons, very old people fall easilier or loose equilibrium easilier, after 75 don't make the clown in the stairs or on ladder- aka "stay on the chair & listen to the music":D . Unluckilly when these hair cells are destroyed it is forever, so some Fhz loss are forever and can not be swapped. I don't know but I surmise as there is a progressive loss quantity of these cells, it explains some can DSP raise the spl in treble for compensation...and/or it is the extra power response in the sub frequency due to this EQ that helps ! Notch & Tinitus seems have their own behavior as well as pointed out ealier.

I am worried by Pano's picture : wow, as low as 2K hz and right in the middle area we tune our speaker : 2 k/5khz ! Sibilance being circa 6 K hz, that explains things about above speakings and dialogs understandings !

A + for active/DSP filter ! S...t I promised myself to learn active before my next passive filter speaker : I have to glue to my words :irked:



@ OldspkerGuy : very true for both Jazz Brass + piano imho ! If by chance you can find an old Fostex T925 (not made anymore), it's even better than the 90 serie :)
 
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I use a Fostex super tweeter for ME; when younger ears are listening with me; they can't stand the "extra" top octave.
When I was young I did not like super-tweeters and many regular tweeters. They sounded fake to me, they sounded like a tweeter making sounds, not like any real sounds I heard in nature. They sounded Hi-Fi, not real. But now that I'm old, they don't bother me a bit. :D

Going by that chart of young vs old, we'd need a 12dB boost at 4K and almost 20dB at 8K to get back to normal. That's steep!
 
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When I was young I did not like super-tweeters and many regular tweeters. They sounded fake to me, they sounded like a tweeter making sounds, not like any real sounds I heard in nature. They sounded Hi-Fi, not real. But now that I'm old, they don't bother me a bit. :D

Going by that chart of young vs old, we'd need a 12dB boost at 4K and almost 20dB at 8K to get back to normal. That's steep!


In my particular case; 10 KHz to 15 KHz +10 dB or more is required as compared to the level at 5 KHz. I notice a 2 to 3 dB drop beginning at about 8 KHz. This is true regardless of amplifier or speakers/tweeters or the AKG headphones so it is probably as accurate of a test as any "ear" Doctor could do. I know that at 20 KHz; +20 dB does NOTHING; I keep saying this but I might as well have in ear plugs for 20 KHz.

The Fostex T90A is a very good sounding tweeter. It is accurate and articulate but never sounds harsh or "fake" in any way. They sell for over $200 US each so not for everyone I realize. I have tried other tweeters (not necessarily or specifically super tweeters), horns, soft and hard domes, ribbons, etc. with high output. These Fostex, while much more expensive; do the trick for me; all the other tweeters I tried just didn't quite sound good enough for me.
 
I wonder if lots of high frequency energy flying around can harm your ears even more......
I can say that, according to a Health & Safety Executive report from 2001, studies have shown that there are very few reports of permanent hearing loss in workers exposed to noise of very high frequency or ultrasonic frequency. On the contrary, it is conventional wide band noise that can cause hearing loss in the very high frequency range.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...crr01343.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3aaLrKPQAXX1D2gSxNhcOx
 
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