Can you hear it?!

[Skinnyman]

Well i did this before reading Dood's cautionary note so I'll take the results with a pinch of salt.

That said, I got to just shy of 15KHz which I reckon is reasonable for an old git of 61.

I used to wear earplugs on the motorbike and I've worn ACS plugs at gigs for the last few years.

[Newfoundfreedom]

Around 13500 on the phone. Couldn't be arsed to find earphones. 

[fleabag]

@Skinnyman

Mr sensible .. not like some of us idiots then 🤓

Edited March 11, 2019 by fleabag

[Oopsdabassist]

27Hz up to about 11.5K where it merges with my tinnitus, not too bad for my 58 years I guess, loud working environment in my youth plus too many noisy gigs finally taking their toll.

[Skinnyman]

4 minutes ago, fleabag said:

@Skinnyman

Mr sensible .. not like some of us idiots then 🤓

Pardon?

[fleabag]

Do i need to type a bit louder ?

[Ricky 4000]

Hrm, great thread. 😎

I can hear up to 13k via hifi speakers at lowish levels.

Can't hear anything much below 40Hz without turning it way up... is that normal? It really kick out at 45Hz... is that right?? 😬

90 - 100Hz makes me feel like I'm going mad in the head... 😮

Edited March 11, 2019 by Ricky 4000

[Skinnyman]

1 minute ago, fleabag said:

Do i need to type a bit louder ?

And slower....

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, Dood said:

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. 

Such a spoil sport 😛

[blisters on my fingers]

52 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

@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!  

Tried it again with a set of consumer headphones - the low bass is about the same

I take Dood's point that with so many variables in play this kind of thing is in no way a scientific test, and is really just a bit of fun here on Basschat

What I've found strange is the way that above a certain frequency I cannot hear anything at all.

Turning the volume up makes no difference, almost like using some kind of super hard limiter - that's your lot mate nothing more, move along please...

 

 

[Aidan63]

Using Bass Amphones I can hear all the way from 21Hz noticeably increasing in perceived volume upto 100HZ, then slight increase in perceived volume peaking around 1KHz with some drops in volume at certain frequencies and continuing up other decreases in volume in the mid 2k, again mid 3ks, very noticeable certain frequencies in the 4ks and above that odd drop outs noticeable reducing volume from 9kHz and nothing much over 10.7kHz just a perception to 13k after that I'm imagining it

I'm 55, worked in Ents at college and in sound reinforcement in my early 20s and wore the yellow foam plugs then when doing front of stage security and when working the PA, especially when working for bands that weren't our band, who were good about stage volume and as all worked the rig and understood about noisy guitar amps and spill into mics, and have walked out of a few gigs in the last 20 years (Massive Attack even at the back I couldn't stand more than 10 minutes of the support band (so went to the bar) and left after 5 mins of the headliners as the rig had been turned up even more) because they were just ridiculously loud with 20k+ rigs with subs in venues that in the 80s we would have done with 2k-6k of Turbosounds or Martins running at half volume max. I saw Motorhead back in 1980 when they had the volume at 11 and experienced tinnitus for 3 days afterwards so am a bit careful, I use Peltor ear defenders when using power tools and combustion engine driven machines like my power washer at work, and never use power tools for more than a few minutes and when doing chainsaw work in the 90s I used the yellow foam plugs and the ear defenders because I wear glasses the arms of the glasses meant the ear defenders don't seal optimally. I never went clubbing and the few times I ended up in clubs at social events I didn't hang around for long because of the high volume levels.

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, blisters on my fingers said:

What I've found strange is the way that above a certain frequency I cannot hear anything at all.

Turning the volume up makes no difference, almost like using some kind of super hard limiter - that's your lot mate nothing more, move along please...

Why did you think this strange? That's completely normal in my books - we have a peak frequency above which we simply don't register, which generally reduces with age. 

It's a bit like blowing a dog whistle: inaudible to humans, but not to dogs...

[Bassassin]

With the average-but-OK open-back 'phones I use with my lappy, it's audible all the way from 21Hz (with the volume cranked) until it disappears into my tinnitus at 12kHz. What's odd is if I just let the test run, I don't hear it above 12kHz, but if I manually drag it back (causing the audio to pause), then I can hear it up to about 15.

Might try it with some decent studio cans tomorrow.

[Ricky 4000]

3 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

Hrm, great thread. 😎

I can hear up to 13k via hifi speakers at lowish levels.

Can't hear anything much below 40Hz without turning it way up... is that normal? It really kick out at 45Hz... is that right?? 😬

90 - 100Hz makes me feel like I'm going mad in the head... 😮

Ah-hah! Listening to the same (Arcam) hifi amp (moderate level), but with my Studiospares M2000 mastering headphones instead of speakers - I can now easily hear from the beginning of the test (20Hz), and there's no weird ups and downs in the level. Now its smooth up and down to 13K when I hear - nothing!

This proves:

a) I'm getting old.

b) My speakers (two pairs of them) (which I trusted), are a bit cr*p.

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by Ricky 4000

[blisters on my fingers]

43 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Why did you think this strange? That's completely normal in my books - we have a peak frequency above which we simply don't register, which generally reduces with age. 

It's a bit like blowing a dog whistle: inaudible to humans, but not to dogs...

Because I would expect to have reduced high frequency top end loss at my age, and playing in loud bands for decades would exacerbate this

What I find strange is there is a 10Khz ish ceiling above which nothing happens.

If the frequencies sloped off then yes, but it appears that they just stop

However much you pump up the volume

The dog whistle analogy is a good one does it also apply to to old mutts ?

 

[Angelus]

20hz to almost 15k hz at 47 years old. I have tinnitus and have been diagnosed with conductive hearing loss. Strangest thing, while going up through the frequencies it seems to pan, happen to anyone else? Still rehearsing with bands and doing sound for a few friends, so it’s only going to get worse unfortunately. 

[NikNik]

This test is a good one, from good old 1Khz test tone up to 18Khz.

At both 6Khz and 8Khz it begins to add what I perceive to be a second, jarring tone my left ear tinnitus. At 10Khz, the tinnitus combines and is augmented. At 11Khz, I am not sure if I can hear it but at 12Khz and above it is gone.

N.B.: tinnitus initially caused by me standing close to my decoupled Trace Elliot stack at rehearsals and gigs. The rig was sat on a pallette to increase height, not because I knew anything about decoupling cabs back in the be-mulleted '80s!

Edited March 12, 2019 by NikNik

[NikNik]

4 hours ago, Bassassin said:

With the average-but-OK open-back 'phones I use with my lappy, it's audible all the way from 21Hz (with the volume cranked) until it disappears into my tinnitus at 12kHz. What's odd is if I just let the test run, I don't hear it above 12kHz, but if I manually drag it back (causing the audio to pause), then I can hear it up to about 15.

Might try it with some decent studio cans tomorrow.

Your tinnitus his is pretty close to mine!

[pete.young]

11 hours ago, Dood said:

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. 

What he said.

Plus, during my Applied Acoustics course, part of the engineering degree I studied back when Shergar was a colt, I was taught that noise-induced hearing loss always peaks around 4Khz, regardless of the forcing frequency. This is around the frequency range of normal human speech. I find that when I go to a noisy pub I can hear the background noise very loudly but struggle to make out what the bloke opposite is saying, and this is an indication I've suffered some damage somewhere along the line. Despite that, my upper range is still OK and I can, for example, hear those 'mosquito' HF noise generators that paranoid shop owners use to keep da yoot' from congregating outside their premises, crystal clear.

So using high-end drop off as a means of evaluating effectiveness of hearing protection is flawed too, whether or no the response curves are flat, since you're measuring the wrong frequency.

[NikNik]

27 minutes ago, pete.young said:

 

 I find that when I go to a noisy pub I can hear the background noise very loudly but struggle to make out what the bloke opposite is saying, and this is an indication I've suffered some damage somewhere along the line.

That's been me since the '80s!!!

[matski]

Using a pair of Beyer Dynamic DT770s, I could hear from 20 Hz to about 15 kHz - I'm 50 years old and haven't really used much ear protection over the course of my bass career.

[Dood]

31 minutes ago, pete.young said:

What he said.

Plus, during my Applied Acoustics course, part of the engineering degree I studied back when Shergar was a colt, I was taught that noise-induced hearing loss always peaks around 4Khz, regardless of the forcing frequency. This is around the frequency range of normal human speech. I find that when I go to a noisy pub I can hear the background noise very loudly but struggle to make out what the bloke opposite is saying, and this is an indication I've suffered some damage somewhere along the line. Despite that, my upper range is still OK and I can, for example, hear those 'mosquito' HF noise generators that paranoid shop owners use to keep da yoot' from congregating outside their premises, crystal clear.

So using high-end drop off as a means of evaluating effectiveness of hearing protection is flawed too, whether or no the response curves are flat, since you're measuring the wrong frequency.

 

3 minutes ago, NikNik said:

That's been me since the '80s!!!

Same here, and yes I have a dip at 4Khz and my hearing response goes back up after 6-8Khz quite rapidly. The 4Khz area is where we hear 'soft consonants'. Pete you are spot on. One of the biggest problems is hearing speech in a noisy pub etc which can be made even more difficult if music is playing, even if it is not especially loud. Background noise is impinging when trying to concentrate on the person speaking right in front of you.  When it's soft consonants, this becomes even more difficult as the person talking to you starts to slur ha ha.

[JellyKnees]

I'm 52, I got up to around 13kHz which I guess is not too bad for my age. It's definitely dropped off a bit since I last did this about 5 years ago though... better enjoy it while I can!

[Dood]

2 hours ago, matski said:

Using a pair of Beyer Dynamic DT770s, I could hear from 20 Hz to about 15 kHz - I'm 50 years old and haven't really used much ear protection over the course of my bass career.

Interestingly, I went in to a well known high street spectacles and hearing "specialist" and they chose to do a quick hearing test on me using DT770's! I have to admit, I wasn't enthralled with the test as they did it in the front of the shop, in front of a busy main road. I could hear the buses louder than the tones I was supposed to be concentrating on! 

However, the place I go to for my hearing tests actually have an isolation booth and all the correct test gear, for much more reliable results.

{edit} I just wanted to add, reading this back, that I'm not dissing the D770's - They are awesome cans that I use for tracking in my own studio. Love 'em!

Edited March 12, 2019 by Dood

[Hellzero]

As @Dood said, and as I also wrote, if you want a real test go see a specialist. I do it every year, because my hearing is, to me, utterly important. Thanks to these tests, I know I have an almost linear ear response from 20 Hz (they never go lower, but the way I hear it means that I certainly can go down to 18 Hz) up to 18 KHz, with a left-right hearing difference between 1 to 2 KHz (that ping pong you hear in the test). There's a strength out of this anomaly in the non UK typical response (yours is higher pitched at 2 to 4 KHz, just listen to your talking opposed to a "stranger" and you'll understand) : I'm totally imune to the hi-fi tricks to make a device more pleasant to the ears.