Can you hear it?!

[Al Krow]

Whilst I love its portability (my bandmates still can't quite get their head around how light it is!), I've been mulling trading up my BF Super Compact, as it has a top end frequency response of 4 kHz and I felt I was missing that top end 'sparkle' I get from my VK 210 (top end f-response 16 kHz).

It got me thinking whether I was just imaging this and if I could actually hear anything much above 4 kHz anyway? So I thought I'd find out! 

Using a good pair of headphones, I found that I was good 20 Hz all the way through to around 7 kHz at which point I needed to boost the volume to full and then finally cut out at 13.5 kHz. So, yup, that top end sparkle / zing wasn't entirely imaginary  

For a bit of fun if you fancy giving it a go, we can see collectively how deaf we are.   The younger ones amongst us should, in theory, do better.

Hearing Test - HD (NB not recommended to try this, if you have tinnitus).

 

What ear protection are you using to protect your hearing?

Based on a remark from @cheddatom below, actually a really useful related topic for this thread is if you've managed to protect your hearing well, please do share your recommendations for quality ear protection (and price guide); ideally ones which diminish volume but without muffling the sound.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Al Krow

[KiOgon]

Pardon?

 

Wot did e say?

[cheddatom]

I'm 34 and can hear up to 17.5Khz on that test. I'm a bit surprised by that but I do always wear earplugs around loud noises - I even put them in to put the glass in the recycling bin

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, cheddatom said:

I'm 34 and can hear up to 17.5Khz on that test. I'm a bit surprised by that but I do always wear earplugs around loud noises - I even put them in to put the glass in the recycling bin

Actually that would be a great second (and really useful) part of this thread - what ear protection are you using?

I'm forever banging on to the 'youngsters' in their 20s and 30s in my bands about getting proper hearing protection and, forget the cost, their hearing is far more valuable!

[tauzero]

Stops just below 12k for me, which is higher pitched than my tinnitus. I'm 61 so probably in line with expectation.

Don't wear hearing protection with bands but I do when motorcycling.

Edited March 11, 2019 by tauzero
Prophylaxis

[KiOgon]

I'm 68 & 6 weeks 😃 last time I tried it was 8.4kHz on a fair day with the wind behind, I'll try again later, *in life* 😩

 

No Headphones, Logitech Z333s, starts at 31Hz, gone at 8300Hz

Edited March 12, 2019 by KiOgon

[steantval]

I wished I hadn’t done this, I now have serious ringing in my ears, tinnitus.👎

[Al Krow]

Just now, steantval said:

I wished I hadn’t done this, I now have serious ringing in my ears, tinnitus.👎

Sorry to hear that - I'll post a warning in the OP.

[bassfan]

Both my dogs just left the room.......

Just on an iPad, no headphones mine cuts out at just over 13.

I’ve  been a bit hit and miss with ear protection.  I had some moulded ear plugs made up at the London BGS (ACS) a few years back but didn’t like the muted sound so wore them sporadically.  We switched to in ears 2 years ago and they give a degree of protection but what degree I don’t know. 

[Hellzero]

Done, as I already knew it (a test a year), I still can hear from 20 Hz (hey, I'm a 6 strings bas player) to 16 KHz where it's deacaying around 16736 Hz (by my specialist, my ears go to 18 KHz, but the headphones are suited for these measurements). And I'll be 54 this August. No ear protections, I simply don't go to rock concert since more than 25 years : you know these venues where the guy behind the console is young, deaf, stupid and calling himself a sound engineer ! And when I go to this kind of concert, I just take the low cost earplugs they are giving at the entry or I go home. 🤣

[fleabag]

I heard it all upto about 10,700 hz.

Bats everywhere will be on the floor sniggering

[Guest oZZma]

3 hours ago, cheddatom said:

I'm 34 and can hear up to 17.5Khz on that test. I'm a bit surprised by that but I do always wear earplugs around loud noises - I even put them in to put the glass in the recycling bin

17.5 for me too. I'm 41. I was convinced I was already a little deaf because I use a lot headphones with loud music 

I'm not using any ear protection but I was taking it into consideration because we are definitely not a quiet band...

Edited March 11, 2019 by oZZma

[Paul S]

Not so good here - I'm 61 but my hearing has been knackered for the past decade or so - I started to hear it around 35Hz and lost contact at 7.5KHz.  And that is with my hearing aids in!!

[fleabag]

T H A T 'S    A   R E A L    B U M ME R    P A U L  HOPE YOU HEARD THAT

Edited March 11, 2019 by fleabag

[Al Krow]

Just now, Paul S said:

Not so good here - I'm 61 but my hearing has been knackered for the past decade or so - I started to hear it around 35Hz and lost contact at 7.5KHz.  And that is with my hearing aids in!!

On the plus side, Paul, a Motorhead reunion concert should hold no terror for you... 

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, fleabag said:

T H A T 'S    A   R E A L    B U M ME R    P A U L  HOPE YOU HEARD THAT

You can be such a flea bag at times... 😄

[Paul S]

Its Spanish for sandwich!

[fleabag]

This time next year, i can expect my 10,700 to be another 1000 lower. Catching you up Paul   !

[Lozz196]

I usually get around the 13000 on these

[blisters on my fingers]

As I've had tinnitus for years I listened through a set of Tannoy Reveal monitors instead of headphones (just in case it kicked the tinnitus up a notch)

31Hz to 9.4KHz is as good as it got with my born in the fifties lugholes

At first I wondered if the Tannoys were capable of producing the real low end signal, holding my thumb on the speaker cone seems to suggest that indeed they can

I can't hear that at all

While this thread is still in it's infancy, would it be possible to also include results for the lowest frequency, seems like an opportunity missed ?

Thanks Al interesting stuff

Edited March 11, 2019 by blisters on my fingers

[BreadBin]

I just nipped over 15k, not bad for a 46 year old 🙂

[Al Krow]

2 minutes ago, blisters on my fingers said:

As I've had tinnitus for years I listened through a set of Tannoy Reveal monitors instead of headphones (just in case it kicked the tinnitus up a notch)

31Hz to 9.4KHz is as good as it got with my born in the fifties lugholes

At first I wondered if the Tannoys were capable of producing the real low end signal, holding my thumb on the speaker cone seems to suggest that indeed they can

I can't hear that all

While this thread is still in it's infancy, would it be possible to also include results for the lowest frequency, seems like an opportunity missed ?

Thanks Al interesting stuff

@steantval may find your tinnitus workaround helpful (as may a bunch of others folk).

I think I'll stick to the just the highest frequency for the poll as our low frequency hearing (from my understanding anyway) is much less impacted by the ravages of wear & tear and age than our high frequency hearing (and it also keeps the poll relatively simple!). So I suspect we would find that there would be a significant bunching around the 20 to 30 Hz mark.

What, however, might also be interesting is for you to listen to just the very low frequencies (which hopefully won't set off any tinnitus?) through a good pair of headphones and see if you can hear lower than 31 Hz? If you can't, the good news is you at least have the open low B string covered (= 31 Hz) so you're not missing out on any bass notes!  

[SpondonBassed]

I'll do the test later when I can run it through the living room amp.

In the meantime it reminds me how I used to be able to hear the chirps of bats when I was in my early teens.  Later I worked in the aviation industry around commercial jet engines.  We were always provided with hearing protection.  I know I have lost some of the higher frequencies due to normal ageing but I have also been an all weather motorcyclist for twenty five years.  I've done hundreds of hours of motorway riding with no fairing nor ear plugs and I now have tinnitus. It will be interesting to follow through with the test here.

More later...

[Dood]

Stop!

ignore all your results!

They will all vary depending on what hardware you are playing on/through. Don’t believe for a minute that even “good” consumer earphones have a flat response or do actually cover the frequency ranges they suggest in a way that would warrant use for a resilient hearing test.

So, if you are worried you can’t here anything above what appears to be a low figure, it’s possibly down to the top end roll off of your device. Or, if it’s a particularly high figure, then you might have a set of cans that accentuate the highs.

In short, the only way you will get believable results is to go get ya ears checked properly.

Or, ya know, you could just have bugger3d ears. So.. sorry for that too. 

[krispn]

12kHz for me into 5 driver IEM type ear buds

Edited March 11, 2019 by krispn
headphones added to appease dood's revelations :)