Aging ears and Nuances

I am 77 years old.  I can't hear like I used to be able to, but like you, I can still hear some things.  My hearing extends out to 12-13 kHz, it varies a bit day to day.  In fact there is precious little music above 10 kHz, or even less.  It is really more a question of how disciplined you are in how you listen.

I’m 72,  I hear soundstage and instruments texture just fine. I gave up on listening to small differences in components years ago. It became completely unnecessary to enjoying the music. The advent of streaming has been  one my many joys in retirement. 
Rich

I am 73 and have found no reduction in my ability to characterize and discern nuances in high end systems. Overly trebly, hard and distorted high frequency bother me as much as ever.  

All the nuances of the midrange are still there. I know my high frequency hearing is not as good as it used to be, but my experience listening seems to have made up for it. When I listen with younger folks, our observations are the same as we compare notes. Also, high frequencies affect lower frequencies, so if you get them wrong the overall sound is negatively affected. 

I also get to listen to different systems... some of lower quality and some of higher quality... and of different character. The differences are instantly obvious. 

I believe all of you. However, one sign of agedness among some of the faithful gathered hereabouts manifests in our tendency to repeatedly hash over old arguments like a bunch of old duffers sitting around the pickle barrel in the general store. Wouldn't have it any other way. Sometimes if an old argument is sampled daily for centuries it can turn into something magnificent to behold - something entirely unexpected.

According to the VA I have lost a bit at both ends of the spectrum. Nothing too bad. 
My problem is not what I cannot hear. It is what I do hear. 
All that said being in my 70’s with a myriad of issues I had to downsize to equipment I can physically handle. Moving around 100 pound amps and speakers is simply no longer an option. 
A word of advice… please do not ever tear your quad tendon off the bone. 

My high frequency hearing isn't as good as it was when I was young, but I can still hear the most critical music ranges quite well.  In my 60s, even with less than youthful hearing I am a more experienced and patient listener and am more adept at identifying nuance and subtle changes than when I was young.  

There is an awful lot more to music reproduction than high frequency bandwidth.  In my experience you can enjoy quality music reproduction and hear subtle component differences as you age despite a gradual loss of high frequency hearing.

As other posters have noted, with experience you also learn to be a better listener.

I believe our brains retain the experiences of listening in our younger years and "fill in" the missing frequency information even when our ears no longer detect them. We know what full range music sounds like and that knowledge is recalled by the overall sound such that we don't notice the missing frequencies.

At 75 even more capable to detecting nuance on a good system at least in base, mid and much of highs. One thing that I think has happened with age is an ever-increasing sensitivity to distortion. This happens in music systems but also on TV, movies, and loud places such as restaurants. Much if it is but sub-liminal, but if you want to know if your system is clean and clear, natural, un-electronic ask an old duffer.

I'm 74 and have worn hearing aids for the past 20 years or so; main problem was loss of high-frequencies; being hard-of-hearing runs in the family. As mashif says, our brains 'fill in' missing info, and hearing aids with audiologists setting the EQ, just make it that much easier for my brain to do so. I can even do a little EQ adjustment myself on them. 

Dear Mashif, being a medical specialist in ENT, You are so right! We have a "musical memory". You need to have listened for several years to for example acusic music to learn to rember the special spectrum of frequences that identify each instrument. When you get older and start to loose the upper frequences, your brain only need to hear the caracteristics of a part of the full spectrum of a special instrument to recognise it and fill in the missing frequences. This is natures way of letting us enjoy our music up through our age. Electronic music however can vary in so many ways making it much more difficult to find a special spectrum of freqwuences for the "instrument"to remember.

You also need to deal with these facts when judging the HiFi reviews from eldery experienced HiFi experts. Are they really hearing all frequences or is the brain adding more or less...?

Dear Mashif, being a medical specialist in ENT, You are so right! We have a "musical memory". You need to have listened for several years to for example acusic music to learn to rember the special spectrum of frequences that identify each instrument. When you get older and start to loose the upper frequences, your brain only need to hear the caracteristics of a part of the full spectrum of a special instrument to recognise it and fill in the missing frequences. This is natures way of letting us enjoy our music up through our age. Electronic music however can vary in so many ways making it much more difficult to find a special spectrum of freqwuences for the "instrument"to remember.

You also need to deal with these facts when judging the HiFi reviews from eldery experienced HiFi experts. Are they really hearing all frequences or is the brain adding more or less...?

This is all very interesting and encouraging for a 70 year old with high-frequency hearing loss who wears hearing aids and who just invested in new speakers to be delivered soon. I debated for quite a while while auditioning speakers, wondering if my ears were worth the investment. I decided to they are because I listen a lot and this is great reinforcement. Thanks!