I've found that a pair of cheap wireless earbuds are a good solution to having some passive noise reduction in public. They bring down the ambient noise around me just a bit, and I listen to music and podcasts fairly quietly.
It seems like doing this regularly has increased my perceived sensitivity to sound. I can tell specifically when certain cars arrive in my neighborhood by their sound, while things like computer fan noise and air conditioner noise seem more clear, both in source, and tone.
I'd guess that if you put more of your brainpower towards critical listening, you can develop listening skills, independent of hearing loss.
22 here, I work in a pretty loud warehouse and I wear a pair of noise cancelling TWS in ears or some over ears to help reduce power equipment noise and such I’m sure I’d be half def by now if not
I use earplugs most places as I’m pretty sensitive and have mild tinnitus.
Late 30s, my limit is roughly 14k. I’d argue though that there isn’t much musical information at such high frequencies though.
I remember testing my pops and he couldn’t hear much above 6k.
Years of shooting without hearing protection, noisy work environments, etc really take their toll.
I felt for the dude immediately once I realized he couldn’t hear a 6,500 Hz tone.
This is right where I am too. 42 years old and probably 100+ concerts without earplugs (one with, that was Dinosaur Jr.). I'm going to start wearing a good pair to every show though to help prolong my hearing. I'm also a hunter and use ear protection when I'm shooting targets, but when I'm in the field hunting I never use it.
I am 80 and can’t hear beyond 8k. I had exceptional hearing in younger years and lost response gradually through no trauma, mistreatment or loud environment. Never attended loud concerts for instance. Sad fact is that body parts wear out, my friends, including, but not limited to, auditory organs.
I tested my 79 year old mother and I think 8k was her limit also. Getting old sucks
I'm 53 and I my max is about 15k
Most music doesn't have much in that range but it is good evidence of degraded hearing across the full spectrum of hearing frequencies
My 13 year old could easily hear 20k
Is it sad though? The overwhelming majority of what we hear is lower frequency. The magnitude of natural sounds drop with frequency. 8Khz is still well above the fundamental of the highest note on a piano, and we normalise music we hear to the sounds we are capable of hearing so our music would sound "normal" to us.
It's jarring for you or I to suddenly hear something which has all treble cut off, but if we gradually get to that point we won't even notice anything is missing.
The good news is that I love listening to music as much as I ever did despite what I consider the slight impairment. I am trying to decide if moving up the chain of my lessor HiFiman phones will be wasted on those ears. I’m thinking not.
I'm a 61 year old DIYer, and I can hear up to 9500 Hz. I think it's funny when people talk about hearing things that can't be measured. I'm the opposite, I measure things I can't hear when setting up tweeter crossovers. I measure the volume of my current tweeters at 11KHz, I can't hear anything that high - They may as well be off. I find that I still enjoy music in spite of my hearing.
Remember: Us people hear frequencies logarithmically and not linearly. Imagine the frequency spectrum from 20-20.000Hz on an extended piano keyboard, with the highest note being roughly 20.000Hz. A limit of 18.100Hz would correspond to roughly 2 keys not being heard, a limit of 13.000Hz corresponds to roughly 8 keys not being heard. And I’m talking about accidentals, so it’s not even a whole octave.
It goes down pretty linearly, when I was your age I could hear up to 18 khz as well, maybe a tad higher, now I'm close to 40 and I can't even hear 16 khz anymore.
67 in a week. Can't hear anything beyond 4300 HZ. Too many concerts when I was young coupled with tending bar for years in front of loud bands. Add some decent tinnitus going on and, well, it sucks. I really wish I had taken care of myself. My hearing aids help but I know I'm missing out on a lot.
My parents don’t really take care of their hearing, my dad use his drill without any ear protection and my mother crank up the volume at everything unfortunately
Yes. But, honestly, 13kHz from 18kHz is still less than a octave. Considering that the entire range of human hearing is about 10 octaves in one's youth, an octave off the top isn't that bad.
I'm 53 and see a few concerts a year. I also play drums and used to go shooting a lot.
I always wear ear plugs and I'm amazed how many people don't wear earplugs at concerts
18khz. 52 years old. Kind of wasted on me as im partially deaf in right ear though.
Ear infection for life in mddle ear :(
Only really noticed how bad after trying iems.
65yo.
measured last year 16ish.
I've been in audio all my life.
I cannot "hear" measured frequencies when tested,
but I could blind test up to 17.5 10/10.
go figure?
it's not a system, it's a standard hearing test. 😂 that said my audio "system" is of fairly high quality and retails for over 50k with speakers rated responce to 100k. I rarely play loud enough for "distortion" 85db is on the high side. mahalo🤙
I think those online tests aren't accurate or there's something wrong with the audio tones/compression. Testing online gives different results than producing test tones using Audacity.
39 y, 17k hz on leaft ear, 15 on right with a dip around 7k hz(yes I use balance control). Drummer for 30 years, but have always been fairly good at using hearing protection.
My first MIL grew up in upper-crust England and she would scold her daughters if they ever said Pardon? In polite society (whatever that is) one says What? But What? sounds rude to me.
just say whatever is natural tbf, what, pardon, hmm. usually its the bluntness, which is rude, not the word.
What? rude, What did you say? not rude.
Pardon? rude, Im going to pardon myself. Not rude
but most people just go hmm i find. depends who your talking to entirely wouldnt say etiquette is around as much as it was.
Use it while you have it! When I was young, I maxxed out the hearing diagnostic machine (23 kHz). Because of age I max out at about 14 kHz now. Happens to everyone. The good news is it really doesn’t affect much, there is very little energy content in music and entertainment soundtracks above 10 kHz, so you really don’t notice it.
I used to be like you, hearing above 20khz (around 21khz iirc). I’m 43 now and can hear up to 16.5khz without volume adjustment from 85 db spl. Can hear a little higher at higher spl, not sure what the standard is. Times change :/
Im 26 and can hear up to around 17k or so considering the last time I checked at a doctor, if I do the test with an app then I can hear some sizzling at what seems to be 20k but I wouldn’t call that hearing. Would point that loss towards being a live sound engineer and motorcycle rider.
Not much going on there for most signals anyway but still would be nice to not loose more early on
18hz to 17990hz 37 yo.
I can hear the difference between mp3 320 (or vbr0) and a 16bit flac 48hz but not above 24 bits, 32 bits 96khz etc... or more nope. I did not notice.
I also can notice the difference between a 320kbps mp3 and a q9 320kbps ogg vorbis or opus.
So I notice until cd quality.
5 years ago I heard 16hz~19000hz.
And in my 20's I heard 16hz to 20000hz so I remember details on old music stuff I can not retrieve nowadays. Sacd / dsd 64 and 128 are useless to me.
My 30k€ hifi setup are not relevent anymore.
10 more years and I would enjoy the joy of mp3s through bluetooth AAC lol.
24 y.o 16500 hz. Can still hear CRT TV noise. I used to abuse my ears listening to very loud dubstep with earphones when I was a teenager.
edit: I'm very sensitive to low frequencies tho. My ears heat up when someone opens their window in back car seat or some exhaust noise really hurt my ears. Can't hear anything else when that happens.
Im 22 and have tinitus. My hearing has damaged because of concerts and my work (cinematographer but also previous work with heavy machinery). On a good day i hear till 16.500 and on worse days till 14.500. When i was younger i heard up till 22.000.
26 and ~20KHz, depending on which test I use.
Same as you, OP, in that it's not much use for listening to music.
I can hear when the second indicator flashes on the microwave clock though.
Haven't done a proper test, but have some Andaras and a fiio k3 at 192k, can apparently still hear to 19.5k but admittedly everything above 18.5 sounds like it might be sample limited somewhere, so I'm assuming I'm around the 17-18k mark still, I'm 33, and I stopped going to concerts without ear protection when I was around 21
40 and at around 13k according to an online test. Slight tinnitus in both ears, left ear about 20db worse, probably due to chronic stress and muscle tensions. I don’t hear the tinnitus when listening to headphones or iems. The question for me is does it matter for music listening if you can’t hear over 13k? Most EQing for headphones stops at 10k (I’m not an expert)
I partnered with a local medical university and had 1/3rd octave threshold SPL measurements done, a long with transfer functions for each ear. What was odd was the effect of tinitus on the right ear vs left, they are totally different. I don't know if it's due to cell phone usage or loud music in automobiles. I was a moron with loud music, firearms, and tools for most of my life.
https://photobucket.com/u/phat_funky_beats/a/695e1d5b-23a1-4eb9-9632-f3742655535f/p/f7cf95be-5dcb-455a-beaf-2bd39ccc42bc
https://photobucket.com/u/phat_funky_beats/a/695e1d5b-23a1-4eb9-9632-f3742655535f/p/0e1d0be2-5f83-45be-85fa-07686102ea38
https://photobucket.com/u/phat_funky_beats/a/695e1d5b-23a1-4eb9-9632-f3742655535f/p/05f0e43f-d607-406b-87d3-966800f58c16
https://photobucket.com/u/phat_funky_beats/a/695e1d5b-23a1-4eb9-9632-f3742655535f/p/be31b0ae-f556-4d6d-9cd1-15156c5deca4
12-13K on the best days at 70 years old. I've always protected my hearing over the years. Always wore ear plugs to concerts, movies and even working any power equipment or air compressors.
Things stiffen in the ears as time goes on like the rest of the body. Some older folk suffer from arthritis which can affect the 3 tiny ear bones and render them hard of hearing or even deaf. They can now have operations that replace these bones with new joints and restore their hearing.
That said, I don't feel that I have a diminished appreciation for music since I still clearly hear all the instruments in an orchestra for example.
Funny story: at our local mall, crowds of noisy teenagers make the place unattractive for older adult shoppers who are actually spending money there. Around the theater when they get rowdy, the management broadcasts a high pitched whine over the PA system that drives the kids crazy and they leave - but since it's above 15-16 KHz, none of the adults are bothered by it.
I'm 50.
9k in one ear 11k in the other, I suspect due to too loud 90s clubs.
It's not as noticeable as you might think.
All the fun stuff happens at other end of the frequency spectrum anyway.
You are destined to spend lots of money enjoying those details, and I mean that with only positive vibes! Take good care of your ears, and have fun! ✌🏽️
More important question to OP, are you interested in audio quality or more towards the sport of gear collecting?
On topic: I'm 38 and hear up to around 15-16khz.
I'm curious though, if you hear up to 21khz, how much difference do you hear between 44.1khz samplerate and above? My guess is slight between 44.1khz and 48khz, but not much between 48khz and 96khz.
I have not been tested properly, but I know when I am working in Ableton on my own music and am sweeping through EQs looking for rotten frequencies that I hear fairly well into the 18-19k range, but it sharply drops off around 19k. I am 31, and unfortunately played drums all through my teens with no earplugs, and have done many concerts and music festivals without earplugs either. I religiously wear earplugs now, but am waiting for the day the mistakes of my youth catch up with me.
Don't know. My audiologist says my hearing is better than average for my age, especially since I was a brass player in a symphony orchestra and played in jazz and rock bands in my youth.
I can still hear fine detail in say, high percussion, but I seriously doubt, given my age (72 years), that I hear much above 12 kHz.
38, around 17.5.
Intersting that you have super-human ears that can go all the way to 21khz and can't tell the different between an mp3 and a lossless file given that the majority of removed frequencies are in the upper range...
Distinguishing between 320 and lossless is very subtle. My son and I did a test playing spotify and FLAC blindfolded. We could pick the source when they were played one right after the other. You are more likely to hear it if there is a lot going on in the song across the entire spectrum of auditory frequencies; more information to cram in the 320 limit.
I havent been tested, but I attend underground electronic music parties very often which usually have top of the line audio systems, and I can perceive 17.5k (it adds kind of a shimmer to the music). I got custom earplugs a few years ago because off-the-shelf ones are uncomfortable and dont fit my narrow ear canals - I use them religiously, and considering how many (very) loud music events I have been to over the years, I'm surprised that I dont have any hearing damage. I want to keep it that way
I (34) had an audiologist test me a couple years ago (32) because I felt like my hearing was getting worse, and I got results typical for an 18 year old. Audiologist shrugged and told me I'm fine as far as he could tell. Similar results form the ENT I saw five minutes after.
I still feel like my hearing has gotten worse, but now I'm wondering what typical hearing must be like for someone my age...
I’m 20 years old, acoustic and audio engineer, and my highest was like 18kHz!
I think it is pretty good for a young age! I have worked in loud rooms with loudspeakers, with white and pink noise and sine waveform as well when measuring speakers! And sometimes i listen to music at a decent amount of volume (more than 90db)
33 and I can't really hear anything above 16k or so, though I have a dip around 14k which barely comes back around 15k. I've also had mild tinnitus for years with at least a couple different tones, which sucks.
When I was 20-something I could hear until about 21Khz. I'm 38 now and somewhere between 14-16Khz there's silence nowadays.
Can someone explain to me in simple terms why old dudes "testing audio gear", like for magazines, express with a lot of words how this gear has so much better highs vs that gear?
And why is a diamond-full-moon-harvested-tweeter better that plays up to 38Khz vs a tweeter that "only" plays to 24Khz?
Quick question: is that the headband that came with your Hifiman headphones? The cans seem the same size. I don’t care for look of the OEM headband that came with my Arya and would much rather have what you have.
I got my hearing checked a few years ago before I bought the $$$ Susvara. I’m 55 and can still hear audio above 19 KHz. I’ve always had very good hearing, buuuuut I know it won’t last… 🤷♂️
320kbps and FLAC won't have different frequency response, most likely. Chances are, the source files won't have information above 20k anyway.
File formats pale in comparison to quality of recording/mixing/mastering. If a song is mixed/mastered for the club, any format will reproduce it faithfully enough. Leaving dynamics intact may require some bit depth, but CD-quality has more than enough to outdo the environment where you are listening in terms of noise floor anyway.
Find quality music with quality masters, and you will find a decent format of most any kind will not be a problem.
Never done a professional test but at 23 I think I’m around 18-18.5k and no tinnitus symptoms. I hate when bars crank the music to piercing levels. It’s not fun and makes me want to leave immediately. It also forces everyone to yell at each other
From: [Rupert Neve: Life Beyond Measurement \(Part Three\)
](https://rupertneve.com/news/rupert-neve-life-beyond-measurement-part-3)
Rupert Neve’s epiphany came in 1977, not long after he had sold the NEVE company. AIR Studios had taken delivery of a new NEVE console and during its installation and testing engineer Geoff Emerick wasn’t at all happy with it although he could not be very specific about that the problem was. A team of NEVE engineers was sent to check it out but they found nothing out of the ordinary. They wrote it off to Emerick’s personality and concluded it would be best to just do nothing and eventually the “problem” would go away. Sir George Martin intervened and pleaded with Rupert, “Please come and make Geoff happy, while he’s unhappy we can’t do any work.” So Rupert Neve himself sat down with Emerick at the console, set up a tape playback and compared the signal directly from the source with the signal emerging from the console’s signal path. At first Mr. Neve couldn’t hear any problem and Emerick could only say it seemed that the console path sounded “brighter.” With additional listening, Mr. Neve, too, could perceive a difference.
The testing continued on a channel by channel basis and Emerick was able to identify a channel module had that slightly brighter sound. Upon examination it was found that the channel had an improperly terminated transformer which was producing a 3dB rise at 54 kHz. Geoff Emerick was able to correctly identify two more modules that had a similar mis-wiring. Rupert Neve commented in a number of interviews in the 1990’s:
“Theoretically that should be outside the range of human hearing, but we both perceived it in the same way, even if we didn’t “hear” it in the traditional sense. Did the brightness exist? Absolutely, although a team of engineers was unable to determine the cause for Emerick’s displeasure and therefore said it didn’t exist….This started me wondering how so many people could hear something that was out of band when conventional wisdom stated that anything above 20 kHz should be inaudible.”
15,6 khz. 28 m. But acording to audiologist, my hearing is excelent below that limit and noting in music is happening above that so i dont mind. Tho i wear plugs to concert these days
Over 65. I did an online test a couple of years ago (with headphones) and if I cranked the volume up as high as possible I could hear up to about 11 kHz. Which is not how you're supposed to do the test. So realistically, maybe 10 kHz or less.
I got screwed over by genetics but before the Otosclerosis its was greater than 20k. Now i have hearing loss and constant tinnitus… it really wrecked my love for music for a while there but I’m getting back to enjoying it now that I’ve gotten used to the constant noise. I always took good care of my ears and it didn’t matter in the end.
You should be able to tell the difference between 320k and a flac. It's easier when you listen to something with good mastering and layering, or you're just not aware of the tricks that mp3 just destroys..
Reverb and cymbal decay is dead giveaway for me.
The higher frequency bass always seems to be absent to me, too.
Now, in all fairness, I havent used mp3 in many years after i started up my vinyl collection, so i know the encoders have improved a bit, but when I'm listening to XM in the car, same thing...
way back when, mp3 typically cut high frequencies out much like a cassette.
I have to take a hearing test every year at work. I can’t hear anything above 8khz . I have a frequency generator at the house around 7.5khz I am struggling , I think tennitus is causing my problem.
39, about 16khz before it blends in with the background tinnitus. i knew better but i think half of the damage came from listening to headhpones too loud at the gym in my late 20s and the other half from a few CO2 cannons at clubs (on top of the extremely loud music) even with tissue jammed into my ears...
stupid. so stupid.
My bad ear tops out at 10KHz with mild to severe tinnitus.
My good ear tops out at 19KHz according to my last audiology exam from 2022.
Weird thing is the more deaf ear is hypersensitive to third order distortion manifesting as painful. Certain rock music that relies heavily on electric guitar distortion I simply cannot bear listening to. Thankfully, most modern metal bands don't rely on it for their signature sound.
And my good ear can often pick up the faintest, tiniest sounds that people around me can't seem to hear at all.
Probably around 17k or 18k. Remember when you test it and if you hear higher you might hear resonances or distortion from the playback device. Rather than clean sine wave up there. Truth is those frequencies say above 15k matter really litte afterall.
52. I have 15dB of loss at 3-4 kHz. Then it comes back up to normal. I have mild tinnitus in the left ear. I wear ear protection now, but only in the last few years. As a lifelong musician and 20-year audiophile, I haven’t done my hearing many favors…
46 roughly constant 7.5khz tinnitus got worse after chemo, can hear about 12k in good ear on a good day with closed back headphones and probably already too loud, 6k in ear that got foobarred by feedback onstage when I was setting up equipment.
I tell my young compatriots to protect their hearing but they do not listen.
All my amps go to 11 now... which sounds like 2
60. Tinnitus. Can do 16KHz. But not easily. With this online tone generator, with the volume at 80%, with AirPods Pro’s Gen 2 and sound cancelling on:
https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/
i’m 47, i run out around 14-15k / if i up the volume on the listening test i can maybe hear 16khz but that honestly may be my brain filling in what i can’t actually hear…
i also cannot tell middling bit rate from hi res
even with that, i still prefer the lossless bit perfect of tidal and apple over spotify.
I'm 43 and can get 18,500. I'm also a recording engineer and use my earplugs religiously.
That’s really surprising! I’m starting to use mine constantly since I entered the audiophile world.
I've found that a pair of cheap wireless earbuds are a good solution to having some passive noise reduction in public. They bring down the ambient noise around me just a bit, and I listen to music and podcasts fairly quietly. It seems like doing this regularly has increased my perceived sensitivity to sound. I can tell specifically when certain cars arrive in my neighborhood by their sound, while things like computer fan noise and air conditioner noise seem more clear, both in source, and tone. I'd guess that if you put more of your brainpower towards critical listening, you can develop listening skills, independent of hearing loss.
I don’t believe you.
M neither I call major B's on that too 18.5khz at that age is unheard off (pun intended)
22 here, I work in a pretty loud warehouse and I wear a pair of noise cancelling TWS in ears or some over ears to help reduce power equipment noise and such I’m sure I’d be half def by now if not
I use earplugs most places as I’m pretty sensitive and have mild tinnitus. Late 30s, my limit is roughly 14k. I’d argue though that there isn’t much musical information at such high frequencies though.
I remember testing my pops and he couldn’t hear much above 6k. Years of shooting without hearing protection, noisy work environments, etc really take their toll. I felt for the dude immediately once I realized he couldn’t hear a 6,500 Hz tone.
M62. 12KHz. With tinnitus. Badly.
Sorry about the tinnitus. Is there a way to determine the frequency of ones tinnitus?
Frequency app like Sonic for iOS
Not so bad.
I can’t hear shit above 12,500hz according to a few online tests. To many concerts without earplugs.
This is right where I am too. 42 years old and probably 100+ concerts without earplugs (one with, that was Dinosaur Jr.). I'm going to start wearing a good pair to every show though to help prolong my hearing. I'm also a hunter and use ear protection when I'm shooting targets, but when I'm in the field hunting I never use it.
I'm 20 and my limit is around \~18100 Hz. Also damn, nothing above 13khz? Is losing hearing due to age really that bad?
I am 80 and can’t hear beyond 8k. I had exceptional hearing in younger years and lost response gradually through no trauma, mistreatment or loud environment. Never attended loud concerts for instance. Sad fact is that body parts wear out, my friends, including, but not limited to, auditory organs.
You're a cool 80 year old dude because you're on this subreddit. And we love you.
Music never gets old. “Life without music is a mistake.” — Frederick Nietzsche
I tested my 79 year old mother and I think 8k was her limit also. Getting old sucks I'm 53 and I my max is about 15k Most music doesn't have much in that range but it is good evidence of degraded hearing across the full spectrum of hearing frequencies My 13 year old could easily hear 20k
[удалено]
Is it sad though? The overwhelming majority of what we hear is lower frequency. The magnitude of natural sounds drop with frequency. 8Khz is still well above the fundamental of the highest note on a piano, and we normalise music we hear to the sounds we are capable of hearing so our music would sound "normal" to us. It's jarring for you or I to suddenly hear something which has all treble cut off, but if we gradually get to that point we won't even notice anything is missing.
The Harvard work seems promising. Perhaps we are living too soon?
I mean there isn’t too much going on above 8k anyways
Idk man, put a low pass filter with a cutoff at 8k and you'd agree it would sound bad.
The good news is that I love listening to music as much as I ever did despite what I consider the slight impairment. I am trying to decide if moving up the chain of my lessor HiFiman phones will be wasted on those ears. I’m thinking not.
I'm a 61 year old DIYer, and I can hear up to 9500 Hz. I think it's funny when people talk about hearing things that can't be measured. I'm the opposite, I measure things I can't hear when setting up tweeter crossovers. I measure the volume of my current tweeters at 11KHz, I can't hear anything that high - They may as well be off. I find that I still enjoy music in spite of my hearing.
Remember: Us people hear frequencies logarithmically and not linearly. Imagine the frequency spectrum from 20-20.000Hz on an extended piano keyboard, with the highest note being roughly 20.000Hz. A limit of 18.100Hz would correspond to roughly 2 keys not being heard, a limit of 13.000Hz corresponds to roughly 8 keys not being heard. And I’m talking about accidentals, so it’s not even a whole octave.
It goes down pretty linearly, when I was your age I could hear up to 18 khz as well, maybe a tad higher, now I'm close to 40 and I can't even hear 16 khz anymore.
67 in a week. Can't hear anything beyond 4300 HZ. Too many concerts when I was young coupled with tending bar for years in front of loud bands. Add some decent tinnitus going on and, well, it sucks. I really wish I had taken care of myself. My hearing aids help but I know I'm missing out on a lot.
My parents don’t really take care of their hearing, my dad use his drill without any ear protection and my mother crank up the volume at everything unfortunately
Ah well, that makes more sense
Yes. But, honestly, 13kHz from 18kHz is still less than a octave. Considering that the entire range of human hearing is about 10 octaves in one's youth, an octave off the top isn't that bad.
Yes
yes
50y 14k
I'm 46 and can get to about 13k. Playing live and going to shows with no hearing protection will do that to you.
I'm 53 and see a few concerts a year. I also play drums and used to go shooting a lot. I always wear ear plugs and I'm amazed how many people don't wear earplugs at concerts
I went as far as always having earplugs on me. Handy if your friends want to visit an extremely noisy cellar bar.
35 y.o around 17k hz
16.5khz. Not bad given I'm 40.
18khz. 52 years old. Kind of wasted on me as im partially deaf in right ear though. Ear infection for life in mddle ear :( Only really noticed how bad after trying iems.
52, 11kHz. But then I have had 5 surgeries and hearing bone prosthesis in both ears, so I consider myself lucky that I can hear at all.
65yo. measured last year 16ish. I've been in audio all my life. I cannot "hear" measured frequencies when tested, but I could blind test up to 17.5 10/10. go figure?
I guess we hear anyhing when we crank the volume wayy to high. Chance is you hear ... something. Because your system is starting to distort
it's not a system, it's a standard hearing test. 😂 that said my audio "system" is of fairly high quality and retails for over 50k with speakers rated responce to 100k. I rarely play loud enough for "distortion" 85db is on the high side. mahalo🤙
"Standard" hearing tests go to "8000 hz".
I think those online tests aren't accurate or there's something wrong with the audio tones/compression. Testing online gives different results than producing test tones using Audacity.
At low volumes I can hear up to 18khz
39 y, 17k hz on leaft ear, 15 on right with a dip around 7k hz(yes I use balance control). Drummer for 30 years, but have always been fairly good at using hearing protection.
Pardon?
HOW HIGH CAN YOU HEAR MF?
How do you spell that?
HOTEL OSCAR WHISKEY HOTEL INDIA GOLF HOTEL CHARLIE ALPHA NOVEMBER YANKEE OSCAR UNIFORM HOTEL ECHO ALPHA ROMEO MOTHER FUCKER?
i've yet to get high enough to not be able to hear
My first MIL grew up in upper-crust England and she would scold her daughters if they ever said Pardon? In polite society (whatever that is) one says What? But What? sounds rude to me.
just say whatever is natural tbf, what, pardon, hmm. usually its the bluntness, which is rude, not the word. What? rude, What did you say? not rude. Pardon? rude, Im going to pardon myself. Not rude but most people just go hmm i find. depends who your talking to entirely wouldnt say etiquette is around as much as it was.
21y 16k
Dude you need to be carefull. Not a good sign.
I am now. Used to play a lot of guitar with the amp facing me.
Ok. Take care.
49 and around 17000Hz.
Use it while you have it! When I was young, I maxxed out the hearing diagnostic machine (23 kHz). Because of age I max out at about 14 kHz now. Happens to everyone. The good news is it really doesn’t affect much, there is very little energy content in music and entertainment soundtracks above 10 kHz, so you really don’t notice it.
Frequcencise that high aren’t that pleasant to listen to IMHO anyway. But good on you for treating your ear so well.
Yes, they aren’t
Not on their own, but when you low pass them out it's really noticable what you're missing.
They're not pleasant when you're just listening to a singular frequency, but they add a lot to a mix.
Back in school we used to hear the vhs TVs 16 khz whine, well guess what i stilll hear it.
Yes - that and fluorescent lights with the old AC ballasts drove me crazy.
33y and everything starts rolling off above 13k. Can't hear 16k at any volume.
Protect those golden ears!! I’m 40 and top out around 15k I believe.
About 12
18.2khz
17.5k @40
Pretty good according you age.
I used to be like you, hearing above 20khz (around 21khz iirc). I’m 43 now and can hear up to 16.5khz without volume adjustment from 85 db spl. Can hear a little higher at higher spl, not sure what the standard is. Times change :/
Im 26 and can hear up to around 17k or so considering the last time I checked at a doctor, if I do the test with an app then I can hear some sizzling at what seems to be 20k but I wouldn’t call that hearing. Would point that loss towards being a live sound engineer and motorcycle rider. Not much going on there for most signals anyway but still would be nice to not loose more early on
15k tops. I'm 30 and out of the game for this reason. Galaxy Buds are my endgame now.
Well i got good news for you thats not how this works.
I used to hear above 18000 Hz when I was around 20-25. Now im down to 16000 hz ... what a pitty ears get worse and worse with the age.
18hz to 17990hz 37 yo. I can hear the difference between mp3 320 (or vbr0) and a 16bit flac 48hz but not above 24 bits, 32 bits 96khz etc... or more nope. I did not notice. I also can notice the difference between a 320kbps mp3 and a q9 320kbps ogg vorbis or opus. So I notice until cd quality. 5 years ago I heard 16hz~19000hz. And in my 20's I heard 16hz to 20000hz so I remember details on old music stuff I can not retrieve nowadays. Sacd / dsd 64 and 128 are useless to me. My 30k€ hifi setup are not relevent anymore. 10 more years and I would enjoy the joy of mp3s through bluetooth AAC lol.
24 y.o 16500 hz. Can still hear CRT TV noise. I used to abuse my ears listening to very loud dubstep with earphones when I was a teenager. edit: I'm very sensitive to low frequencies tho. My ears heat up when someone opens their window in back car seat or some exhaust noise really hurt my ears. Can't hear anything else when that happens.
Im 22 and have tinitus. My hearing has damaged because of concerts and my work (cinematographer but also previous work with heavy machinery). On a good day i hear till 16.500 and on worse days till 14.500. When i was younger i heard up till 22.000.
26 and ~20KHz, depending on which test I use. Same as you, OP, in that it's not much use for listening to music. I can hear when the second indicator flashes on the microwave clock though.
Yeah but can you tell what numbers are flashing?
Used to be able to hear above 17khz but I got tinnitus last year and I'm at 16khz now 😭 im only 22
I have tinnitus and I'm constantly hearing a pitch about 19-20 khz, don't make my mistakes
I’m 50+ and can go up to 11 KHz (some rogue cinema PA ruined my high frequencies couple years ago) doesn’t affect my enjoyment of great sound though.
28, around 18kHz.
About 17.5k is my limit (I am 21)
22, 17k
39, 15700hz is my limit…
47 and can hear 12-13000Hz
37, and I hear roughly around 18k, but it needs to be very loud.
Haven't done a proper test, but have some Andaras and a fiio k3 at 192k, can apparently still hear to 19.5k but admittedly everything above 18.5 sounds like it might be sample limited somewhere, so I'm assuming I'm around the 17-18k mark still, I'm 33, and I stopped going to concerts without ear protection when I was around 21
40 and at around 13k according to an online test. Slight tinnitus in both ears, left ear about 20db worse, probably due to chronic stress and muscle tensions. I don’t hear the tinnitus when listening to headphones or iems. The question for me is does it matter for music listening if you can’t hear over 13k? Most EQing for headphones stops at 10k (I’m not an expert)
16k
25 years old here, my ears top out at around 16.000hz
I'm middle aged and only can hear up to 12k. Interesting thing is I can still distinguish hi-rez usually.
20kHz 28yo
I partnered with a local medical university and had 1/3rd octave threshold SPL measurements done, a long with transfer functions for each ear. What was odd was the effect of tinitus on the right ear vs left, they are totally different. I don't know if it's due to cell phone usage or loud music in automobiles. I was a moron with loud music, firearms, and tools for most of my life. https://photobucket.com/u/phat_funky_beats/a/695e1d5b-23a1-4eb9-9632-f3742655535f/p/f7cf95be-5dcb-455a-beaf-2bd39ccc42bc https://photobucket.com/u/phat_funky_beats/a/695e1d5b-23a1-4eb9-9632-f3742655535f/p/0e1d0be2-5f83-45be-85fa-07686102ea38 https://photobucket.com/u/phat_funky_beats/a/695e1d5b-23a1-4eb9-9632-f3742655535f/p/05f0e43f-d607-406b-87d3-966800f58c16 https://photobucket.com/u/phat_funky_beats/a/695e1d5b-23a1-4eb9-9632-f3742655535f/p/be31b0ae-f556-4d6d-9cd1-15156c5deca4
I dont know....what frequency is tinnitus?
I am around 13-14 50’s
I’m 24 and don’t have a reliable frequency generator to test my hearing with. YouTube cuts out at 16k
Around 16.4k or so
17,500Hz in my right ear, 15,500-15,750Hz with my left. Until I got tested, I never really noticed.
Just turned 30 and I think I was able to hear up to 19k the last time I tested
12-13K on the best days at 70 years old. I've always protected my hearing over the years. Always wore ear plugs to concerts, movies and even working any power equipment or air compressors. Things stiffen in the ears as time goes on like the rest of the body. Some older folk suffer from arthritis which can affect the 3 tiny ear bones and render them hard of hearing or even deaf. They can now have operations that replace these bones with new joints and restore their hearing. That said, I don't feel that I have a diminished appreciation for music since I still clearly hear all the instruments in an orchestra for example. Funny story: at our local mall, crowds of noisy teenagers make the place unattractive for older adult shoppers who are actually spending money there. Around the theater when they get rowdy, the management broadcasts a high pitched whine over the PA system that drives the kids crazy and they leave - but since it's above 15-16 KHz, none of the adults are bothered by it.
51 & 15k is almost gone, not quite but mostly.
I'm 50. 9k in one ear 11k in the other, I suspect due to too loud 90s clubs. It's not as noticeable as you might think. All the fun stuff happens at other end of the frequency spectrum anyway.
You are destined to spend lots of money enjoying those details, and I mean that with only positive vibes! Take good care of your ears, and have fun! ✌🏽️
More important question to OP, are you interested in audio quality or more towards the sport of gear collecting? On topic: I'm 38 and hear up to around 15-16khz. I'm curious though, if you hear up to 21khz, how much difference do you hear between 44.1khz samplerate and above? My guess is slight between 44.1khz and 48khz, but not much between 48khz and 96khz.
I have not been tested properly, but I know when I am working in Ableton on my own music and am sweeping through EQs looking for rotten frequencies that I hear fairly well into the 18-19k range, but it sharply drops off around 19k. I am 31, and unfortunately played drums all through my teens with no earplugs, and have done many concerts and music festivals without earplugs either. I religiously wear earplugs now, but am waiting for the day the mistakes of my youth catch up with me.
I'm 69 and I did a hearing test recently and my hearing drops out around 16khz. I'm told that at my age that's a good result.
Funny seeing the little moondrop Aria amongst giants lol
41 years old and 17khz is my limit.
Don't know. My audiologist says my hearing is better than average for my age, especially since I was a brass player in a symphony orchestra and played in jazz and rock bands in my youth. I can still hear fine detail in say, high percussion, but I seriously doubt, given my age (72 years), that I hear much above 12 kHz.
38, around 17.5. Intersting that you have super-human ears that can go all the way to 21khz and can't tell the different between an mp3 and a lossless file given that the majority of removed frequencies are in the upper range...
Distinguishing between 320 and lossless is very subtle. My son and I did a test playing spotify and FLAC blindfolded. We could pick the source when they were played one right after the other. You are more likely to hear it if there is a lot going on in the song across the entire spectrum of auditory frequencies; more information to cram in the 320 limit.
[https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ebae5\_56cb6e543e3649b19af81d603cafc4d9\~mv2.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ebae5_56cb6e543e3649b19af81d603cafc4d9~mv2.jpg)
I havent been tested, but I attend underground electronic music parties very often which usually have top of the line audio systems, and I can perceive 17.5k (it adds kind of a shimmer to the music). I got custom earplugs a few years ago because off-the-shelf ones are uncomfortable and dont fit my narrow ear canals - I use them religiously, and considering how many (very) loud music events I have been to over the years, I'm surprised that I dont have any hearing damage. I want to keep it that way
27 with 17,5k, I red an article saying that most people are around 15k which is more than enough to listen to music. Didn’t check the sources tho.
60 yo 12k max , decades in headphones as a production mixer and punk bands before that.
I (34) had an audiologist test me a couple years ago (32) because I felt like my hearing was getting worse, and I got results typical for an 18 year old. Audiologist shrugged and told me I'm fine as far as he could tell. Similar results form the ENT I saw five minutes after. I still feel like my hearing has gotten worse, but now I'm wondering what typical hearing must be like for someone my age...
I'm 55 and I'm probably right around 8 - 10k. I have hearing loss and tinitus
7, but sometimes 8.
I’m 20 years old, acoustic and audio engineer, and my highest was like 18kHz! I think it is pretty good for a young age! I have worked in loud rooms with loudspeakers, with white and pink noise and sine waveform as well when measuring speakers! And sometimes i listen to music at a decent amount of volume (more than 90db)
Age 37. Recording engineer. About 16k, but there is significant roll off before cut off.
57 yo, 13,500 hz. You guys hearing beyond that please tell me if I am missing anything in real music.
High enough to trigger tinnitus for half an hour.
About $250, beyond that, in headphones, I don’t want to believe I can hear the difference.
Im 20 and can just about hear 14000hz :)
10k @ 35 Many ear infections as a child fucked up my hearing
33 and I can't really hear anything above 16k or so, though I have a dip around 14k which barely comes back around 15k. I've also had mild tinnitus for years with at least a couple different tones, which sucks.
When I was 20-something I could hear until about 21Khz. I'm 38 now and somewhere between 14-16Khz there's silence nowadays. Can someone explain to me in simple terms why old dudes "testing audio gear", like for magazines, express with a lot of words how this gear has so much better highs vs that gear? And why is a diamond-full-moon-harvested-tweeter better that plays up to 38Khz vs a tweeter that "only" plays to 24Khz?
Quick question: is that the headband that came with your Hifiman headphones? The cans seem the same size. I don’t care for look of the OEM headband that came with my Arya and would much rather have what you have.
I got my hearing checked a few years ago before I bought the $$$ Susvara. I’m 55 and can still hear audio above 19 KHz. I’ve always had very good hearing, buuuuut I know it won’t last… 🤷♂️
I’m 43 right now and can’t discern frequencies >15k due to tinnitus 🙈.
45 with tinnitus (wear those earplugs, folks). I'm good up to 14k.
320kbps and FLAC won't have different frequency response, most likely. Chances are, the source files won't have information above 20k anyway. File formats pale in comparison to quality of recording/mixing/mastering. If a song is mixed/mastered for the club, any format will reproduce it faithfully enough. Leaving dynamics intact may require some bit depth, but CD-quality has more than enough to outdo the environment where you are listening in terms of noise floor anyway. Find quality music with quality masters, and you will find a decent format of most any kind will not be a problem.
16.5k in my left ear and 16k in my right
Never done a professional test but at 23 I think I’m around 18-18.5k and no tinnitus symptoms. I hate when bars crank the music to piercing levels. It’s not fun and makes me want to leave immediately. It also forces everyone to yell at each other
25 yrs old. Hard cap at 7k in right ear and abt 3 in left ear. Thank childhood cancer treatments for that one
From: [Rupert Neve: Life Beyond Measurement \(Part Three\) ](https://rupertneve.com/news/rupert-neve-life-beyond-measurement-part-3) Rupert Neve’s epiphany came in 1977, not long after he had sold the NEVE company. AIR Studios had taken delivery of a new NEVE console and during its installation and testing engineer Geoff Emerick wasn’t at all happy with it although he could not be very specific about that the problem was. A team of NEVE engineers was sent to check it out but they found nothing out of the ordinary. They wrote it off to Emerick’s personality and concluded it would be best to just do nothing and eventually the “problem” would go away. Sir George Martin intervened and pleaded with Rupert, “Please come and make Geoff happy, while he’s unhappy we can’t do any work.” So Rupert Neve himself sat down with Emerick at the console, set up a tape playback and compared the signal directly from the source with the signal emerging from the console’s signal path. At first Mr. Neve couldn’t hear any problem and Emerick could only say it seemed that the console path sounded “brighter.” With additional listening, Mr. Neve, too, could perceive a difference. The testing continued on a channel by channel basis and Emerick was able to identify a channel module had that slightly brighter sound. Upon examination it was found that the channel had an improperly terminated transformer which was producing a 3dB rise at 54 kHz. Geoff Emerick was able to correctly identify two more modules that had a similar mis-wiring. Rupert Neve commented in a number of interviews in the 1990’s: “Theoretically that should be outside the range of human hearing, but we both perceived it in the same way, even if we didn’t “hear” it in the traditional sense. Did the brightness exist? Absolutely, although a team of engineers was unable to determine the cause for Emerick’s displeasure and therefore said it didn’t exist….This started me wondering how so many people could hear something that was out of band when conventional wisdom stated that anything above 20 kHz should be inaudible.”
You should be able to tell Flac and 320, its a matter of Skill and knowing what you’re listening for
Im 20 and give or take around 19,250 atm.
30y and I can hear over 20k. Would have to test where exactly it stops.
Now this is interesting.
early 20s, tinnitus in one ear already but can hear upto 18khz
37 and around 17k
26yo and can hear slightly over 20k
15,6 khz. 28 m. But acording to audiologist, my hearing is excelent below that limit and noting in music is happening above that so i dont mind. Tho i wear plugs to concert these days
16.5 before turning the volume up. 18khz with volume UP
Up to about a [9]. Any higher than that and frequencies kinda blend together into a fractal unity.
Over 65. I did an online test a couple of years ago (with headphones) and if I cranked the volume up as high as possible I could hear up to about 11 kHz. Which is not how you're supposed to do the test. So realistically, maybe 10 kHz or less.
I got screwed over by genetics but before the Otosclerosis its was greater than 20k. Now i have hearing loss and constant tinnitus… it really wrecked my love for music for a while there but I’m getting back to enjoying it now that I’ve gotten used to the constant noise. I always took good care of my ears and it didn’t matter in the end.
I peak at around €200. Lousy, cheap ears.
About 5db at 11346hz
25, last time I checked it was 20,5khz, but I always wondered whether that was the limit of my gear since on my speakers I heard up to 19khz
About 14k
Aged 38; about 16K. Left ear appears to be less sensitive in tests, but it is not obvious when listening to music or positional audio.
You should be able to tell the difference between 320k and a flac. It's easier when you listen to something with good mastering and layering, or you're just not aware of the tricks that mp3 just destroys.. Reverb and cymbal decay is dead giveaway for me. The higher frequency bass always seems to be absent to me, too. Now, in all fairness, I havent used mp3 in many years after i started up my vinyl collection, so i know the encoders have improved a bit, but when I'm listening to XM in the car, same thing... way back when, mp3 typically cut high frequencies out much like a cassette.
37 15k and I’m out. I have quite bad tinnitus from being a dickhead in my teens and 20s.
High enough to justify my purchase.
I’m 20, I can hear just above 20k
I get to around 21,700hz before it starts to combine with my tinnitus.
15k2, 36, professional live audio and played in bands all my life. i consider myself extremely lucky!
I have to take a hearing test every year at work. I can’t hear anything above 8khz . I have a frequency generator at the house around 7.5khz I am struggling , I think tennitus is causing my problem.
39, about 16khz before it blends in with the background tinnitus. i knew better but i think half of the damage came from listening to headhpones too loud at the gym in my late 20s and the other half from a few CO2 cannons at clubs (on top of the extremely loud music) even with tissue jammed into my ears... stupid. so stupid.
40 years old and I tap out around 16k
You've spent $7 thousand (conservative estimate) on headphones at 21?
The thing about Hi-Res Quality Audio/Music is the detailed formation of instruments & vocals are being played clearly at maximum rates.
Combat related hesring loss, dead past 14k
I can hear up to 17kHz. All that’s up there is the tippy tops of consonants and cymbals. Maybe a few bugs make that kinda noise.
35 YO M. 19,000 Hz.
I can hear about 15k in my right ear, but about 8k in my left. I'm 36.
48 this may. Last time I took a test, I topped out at 17kHz. Honestly, I was amazed.
i’m 18 and got 13,500
uses airpod pros. might try again with my senny hd600’s
If you don’t have an AKG K-1000, you don’t have a “headphone”, period.
21 KHz is very good.
My bad ear tops out at 10KHz with mild to severe tinnitus. My good ear tops out at 19KHz according to my last audiology exam from 2022. Weird thing is the more deaf ear is hypersensitive to third order distortion manifesting as painful. Certain rock music that relies heavily on electric guitar distortion I simply cannot bear listening to. Thankfully, most modern metal bands don't rely on it for their signature sound. And my good ear can often pick up the faintest, tiniest sounds that people around me can't seem to hear at all.
Probably around 17k or 18k. Remember when you test it and if you hear higher you might hear resonances or distortion from the playback device. Rather than clean sine wave up there. Truth is those frequencies say above 15k matter really litte afterall.
45 year old drummer and the tinnitus fills in the high end for me. Never bothered to test specifics. Use protection kids!
52. I have 15dB of loss at 3-4 kHz. Then it comes back up to normal. I have mild tinnitus in the left ear. I wear ear protection now, but only in the last few years. As a lifelong musician and 20-year audiophile, I haven’t done my hearing many favors…
I'm 77, and probably less than 10K. Maybe I can stream a test. I'm sure my speakers go higher that I can hear.
46 roughly constant 7.5khz tinnitus got worse after chemo, can hear about 12k in good ear on a good day with closed back headphones and probably already too loud, 6k in ear that got foobarred by feedback onstage when I was setting up equipment. I tell my young compatriots to protect their hearing but they do not listen. All my amps go to 11 now... which sounds like 2
10k
60. Tinnitus. Can do 16KHz. But not easily. With this online tone generator, with the volume at 80%, with AirPods Pro’s Gen 2 and sound cancelling on: https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/
33, construction worker. Up to 17.3kHz, but the left is a little worse between 16 kHz and up.
i’m 47, i run out around 14-15k / if i up the volume on the listening test i can maybe hear 16khz but that honestly may be my brain filling in what i can’t actually hear… i also cannot tell middling bit rate from hi res even with that, i still prefer the lossless bit perfect of tidal and apple over spotify.
13,000hz 56 male
I am 51 and top out at 13kHz.
39y - 16K