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Hearing Tests

I am wondering about the accuracy of online hearing tests. As we get older our ability to hear high frequency sounds is supposed to gradually decline. I imagine this is true for the vast majority of people. But my mother was nearly 100 when she passed away and her hearing was so acute that the nurses in the hospital were dumbfounded when my mother recounted the content of a conversation nearly-whispered between two nurses in the next room.

Since I am well into my 60s now I was concerned whether I have lost a significant amount of my hearing capacity. It seems to me that I can still hear the finest nuances from my system but you don't know what you are not hearing. But since I have always protected my ears from loud sounds of any kind I thought that maybe I could dodge the bullet. So, I took 3 online hearing tests and they came out just about smack on with the same results, which I was happy to see. The results said I have excellent hearing.

Here are the links to the 3 tests I used to test my hearing:

http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/can-you-hear-this-hearing-test/

http://www.talkclassical.com/17309-extreme-frequencies-hearing-test.html

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/hearing.html

Of course, online tests are not the same as having your hearing tested in a doctor's office. But do they have validity? And, if so, to what extent are they valid? I wish I could find the recent Audiogon thread where someone stated with authority that no one over a certain age (I can't remember the age mentioned) can actually hear above a frequency of 10,000 or 12,000 Hertz (I cannot remember which frequency was quoted).

Do you have any experience with hearing change as we get older and with the validity of hearing tests?
sabai

Showing 7 responses by nonoise

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,226 posts
 
With all things turned off (as best I can), through my Shure SRH-940s and my Centrance DACmini, I could hear up to around 14.3Khz at www.phys.com

At the talkclassical site, the graph shows my hearing topping out here:
12 Khz @-24db
8Khz @-69db
6Khz@-78db
4Khz@-76db
3Khz@-69Khz
2Khz@-86Khz
1.5KHZ2-90db
1Khz@-86db
and it goes up relatively diagonally to 90Hz and then jumps 2-3db on down to 30Khz.

I know this is nowhere definitive but not bad for a set of 58 year old ears under not at all ideal circumstances. One must remember that these are nothing more than test tones and are not representative of actual music.

From whatever point you approach it, the highest range of an instrument goes to the piccolo which doesn't even reach 5kKhz, beating out the harp and violin, and the lowest goes to the contrabassoon which gets down to 26Khz, beating out the harp (again), bass and cello.

I don't care what your age is but it's a pretty good bet that even at my ripe old age of 58 I'm stilling hearing all there is to hear. Yes, there are overtones, ambience, etc. but if it's there, and it adds to the musical enjoyment, I'm still able to appreciate it.

All the best,
Nonoise
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,226 posts
 
Agreed. At the phys.com site, IKhz is the reference.

At the digital recording site, mentioned above, there is a graph that closely mirrors mine and is indicative of hearing loss. Yet I still can hear and enjoy, albeit with the hearing loss.

I listen to a lot of eclectic music with lots of woodwinds, accordians, etc. and have no trouble hearing them, as high as they go. The same goes for basses and cello.

There's a lot more going on in listening than test tones.

All the best,
Nonoise
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,226 posts
 
All of my "@-**" indicates where I was unable to hear anything further. If I set it up wrong, I apologize. This was new to me and I just followed the directions (maybe incorrectly?)

All the best,
Nonoise
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,226 posts
 
Sorry Kr4 for being so dense. It was from the site that Sabai listed:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/hearing.html

All the best,
Nonoise
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,226 posts
 
Kr4,

I'm the first to admit that there is some expectation bias. This is where a blind test is the only real way to assess hearing ability, but it does give one an indication of just how lousy one's hearing can be....:-)

All the best,
Nonoise
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,226 posts
 
Audiosampling,

I scored great up to 13Khz and then all bets were off. I could, however, detect down to 1db difference with 100% accuracy and down to a 10c pitch difference with 100% accuracy as well. I guess somethings work and make up for others that don't.

Could it be that a change in timbre or tone can lead one to figure out the rest aided with memory? Or is it that what we think are frequencies from the tweeter are just the higher limits of the midrange driver?

They say that most of what we hear is in the midrange.
Thanks for the site. If was fun to have as blind a test as possible without going to a doc.

All the best,
Nonoise
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,226 posts
 
I think Lowrider57 may be onto something. My mothers hearing got more sensitive to higher frequencies although her hearing acuity, overall, got worse.

There are very few bright recordings that tend to annoy. It's usually a bad recording (that old 'digital' sound) though I shouldn't be hearing them as of now, should I? Maybe it's part hereditary.
It's more akin to noise than music.
Could it be I'm tiring of digital music? :-)

All the best,
Nonoise
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