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Mental and auditory acuity, and aging

Mental and auditory acuity, and aging

Once we hit 60 or concerns change. Besides the obvious ones, I wonder if our ability to stay in the moment and enjoy music lessons. Heaven forbid.

I thank my mother for opening my eyes to healthy food as a boy. I’m 70 at the moment, and as mentally sharp as ever. I remember eating alfalfa sprouts instead of lettuce. I can still hear the jeers at cafeteria, “Look, he’s eating grass.” I smiled secretly and watched them eat their white bread ham sandwiches and guzzle their Cokes.

I know this is off our usual topics, but after a lifetime of ‘not indulging’, and researching health, I’d be happy to share a few things that really help to keep my mind sharp. I don’t feel it is correct to name the regime or products here. If you’d like to know, just PM me. I’m not affiliated with any of the products. I’m hoping admin will allow this.

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Showing 2 responses by simonmoon

simonmoon's avatar
simonmoon
468 posts
 

@jmnextime1 

I know this topic is geared towards the elderly (I'm 71) but after reading this thread, are there any audiophiles under the age of 50? While we are at it, any women? If so, speak up. 

 

From what I can tell, this stereotype of the 'aging male' audiophile seems to be a bit biased by what is seen in the US, and the UK.

All one has to do to see it does not apply to a good chunk of the rest of the world, is watch audiophile show coverage on YT from shows in: Hong Kong, Poland, Tokyo, Hungary, Manila, Singapore. 

You will see plenty of younger people, women, families. In fact, on one of Fremer's show coverage videos from Hong Kong, he comments several times how the attendees lean much younger than the US.

There is also a video from Singapore, where the presenter is giving tour of an audio mall (yes, Singapore actually has mall, several floors, with nothing but dozens of high end dealers in every store front), where you can also see that the majority of the shoppers are fairly young.

simonmoon's avatar
simonmoon
468 posts
 

I am 67, with hearing that sits in the upper percentile for my age.

But, even with the inevitable loss of some high frequency hearing that comes with age, there is so much more that I don’t think diminishes.

Dynamics, soundstage, imaging, the rest of the frequencies, attack/decay, timbre, can still be heard and evaluated.

Not to mention, that the musical instrument that goes the highest, is the violin, at 16K hz, and that is including the harmonics. The instrument with the highest fundamental is the piccolo, at 4K. The majority of instruments, including harmonics, are under 13K.

So, the detriment to listening to music/audio that comes with age related high frequency hearing loss, may be a bit overstated.

See this interactive chart for more info -

Interactive Frequency Chart

 

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