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Hearing test...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G60hM1W_mk&noredirect=1

(it's legit, not a joke or something). Obviously not a full audiological assessment...

Is there some noise stuff in there (i'll let you know what frequency it is when I get there. Hey, I can hear that low rumble at 20Hz!!! The "noise becomes harder to hear at 400hz up, because it all becomes so loud (even I know the energy level is probably the same for each frequency!). I keep having to turn it down -- at 8K I am down to 5% volume. OK at 12khz I have to turn up the volume again. uh-oh I can't hear anything too well (and not at all) above 13khz!

Quote:

... People lose the ability to hear sounds of high frequency as they get older. The highest frequency that a normal middle-aged adult can hear is only 12-14 kilohertz. Also, the hearing range for men worsens more quickly than the hearing range for women. This means that women will have the ability to hear notes of higher pitch than men of the same age do. -- http://www.gsu.edu/images/AuxiliaryImages/Frequency_Range_of_Human_Hearing.pdf

There is some oscillation at different frequencies once you get up around 8KHz that reminds me of BFO from old shortwave receivers, and that's confusing.

If this little test is near accurate, I've recently lost a little more in the high end, since I go out after 10KHz. Just a few years ago, I was fine to 13. Also have to wonder what YouTube's high compression is doing to the audio.

Quote:

Hey, I can hear that low rumble at 20Hz!!!

Kevin... is it possible that the "low rumble" is the anticipation of lunch?

I start up about 30 Hz, and poop out around 13kHz.

I've lost high end hearing over the years also. I topped out at 8 kHz. Later, Ray

Quote:

Quote:

Hey, I can hear that low rumble at 20Hz!!!

Kevin... is it possible that the "low rumble" is the anticipation of lunch?

I start up about 30 Hz, and poop out around 13kHz.

Ha, ha -- that wouldn't surprise me. I just tried it again and the noise I complained about is gone. OK, when 20Hz comes up I don't hear anything -- but I hear something before it gets to 30Hz. But ears still fail at the 13khz level. So what does that mean for our mixing skills?

Quote:

I've lost high end hearing over the years also. I topped out at 8 kHz. Later, Ray

I'm with Ray on that. Virtually nothing above 8kHz. Probably from being too macho to wear hearing protection in too many years in high-noise industrial environments. It certainly explains why I boost the high end while listening to Pandora. Excellent test for my new Barrys though. They followed the full audio spectrum faithfully.

As a non scientific comparison, I'd like have Josie (Sundance) weigh in. Bet she can hear 16kHz no problem.

I think society's hearing loss is partly a result of higher ambient noise levels.

On the low end, I heard it starting somewhere between 20-30; on the high end, I stopped hearing it after it flashed 13k, but with rather inexpensive headphones. I'll have to try it again later with better headphones.

13khz is good. Better than me. My son made it to 17K, and from the looks on my cocker spaniels face, he was still interested in it around 20k.

I don't know when the ambient noises in my ear took over. But I guess it was around 13 kHz and I did not use headphones but tiny speakers. The speakers are also the reason I could not really hear tones below 50 Hz.

I have to do it once more with headphones.

I started hearing between 20-30 Hz and stopped at 11 kHz. I don’t think that’s too bad for an almost 67 year old guitarist, is it?

Ps - Sometimes I think that my wife talks to me at around 13 kHz

In reading about this, it is funny that places advertise ringtones above 13K so most adults won't hear that you are getting a message. Secret phone call alert!

Yea, if you don't use head phones and don't have a sub woofer, then 50Hz is probably the normal low cutoff.

There's a famous MP3 that only teenagers can hear. Some store owners play it to prevent loitering.

"But ears still fail at the 13khz level. So what does that mean for our mixing skills?"

You should be OK for most instruments. You can always add a bit of 14-16K for sparkle - you just won't hear it!

Studio Engineers oftentimes calibrate their cans (headphones) to compensate, equalize. That works only if you still have SOME hearing in that particular band of freqs. Another possibility that comes to mind would be freq doubling or dividing but that certainly wouldn't help in mixing/mastering and you'd still need SOME hearing within that band..

From what I have read (but nothing "definitive" -- mostly forum stuff) ambient noise, drum reverberations and harmonics live up in the 13khz+ range. So while we are not missing any real music if our ears cut out at 12-13khz, we need that stuff in our mix to make it sound more full and "real" (I guess!).

Here's an interesting article on the loss of high frequencies in MP3 files: http://thesession.org/discussions/19642

By the way, the highest note on the piano is the C8 Eighth octave which is 4186.01 Hz (but the harmonics go on up!).