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Topic: Testing your ears upper frequency threshold. (Read 4901 times) previous topic - next topic
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Testing your ears upper frequency threshold.

Hey Guys,

I am wanting to test my ears upper frequency threshold.

I had a go the other day using a 20hz to 20khz sinewave sweep in mp3 format from Realm of Excursion, through my Redwine Audio iMod, Denon AHD-5000 and Perreaux hadphone amplifier
I found that once I got up to about 13khz I had to turn the volume up, admittedly I do keep my listening levels down quite low.

Now this next bit is quite hard to explain so bear with me. Once I got to about 16khz I couldn't hear the frequency extending any further in fact it was almost like I couldn't hear anything but I my ears were ringing, as soon as the sweep stopped at 20khz the ringing in my ears stopped.

As far as I understand there are few people that can actually detect frequencies that high and I don't claim to have freakishly good hearing even though I am only 27.

What do you think is going on here? When people test there hearing threshold do they do so at a fixed volume? Is there a way that I can do this more accurately?

marx

Testing your ears upper frequency threshold.

Reply #1 –
I'm no ear-ologist, but I had an audiometric test done a couple of years ago, and all the sample tones and syllables involved in the test where at a constant level, except when I failed to correctly identify a sample, in those cases the level was raised for that sample and it was played back again until I could ID the sample. Every time that happened, the person administering the test would write down some stuff.

So I think that raising the level for tones you have trouble hearing helps you recognize them, but it wouldn't be a "normal" listening scenario anymore.

Again, I could be way off the map here
we was young an' full of beans

Testing your ears upper frequency threshold.

Reply #2 –
If you are listening to MP3 format lowpass filter may take place @ 16 KHz, 320kbps mono mp3 format is better for testing

OGG 300kbps+ / lossless or wav will be the best for frequency testing

Testing your ears upper frequency threshold.

Reply #3 –
You should definitely keep the volume constant (and comfortable). High frequencies don't just come to a cliff-top and become inaudible; they roll off, like speakers, so you're discovering where your response starts to decline, not the highest pitch you can hear when it's cranked up to 11. I'm a bit worried you're doing anything that makes your ears ring -- you could be losing a bit right there.

Here's a quick and dirty self-test thingy: http://audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencycheckhigh.php

I don't think you can do anything serious without proper audiology equipment, and ordinarily audiologists don't bother with very high frequencies, because they're irrelevant to speech.

BTW,  I start losing highs at about 11kHz (age), but I console myself with the thought that it's less than one harmonic on any musically relevant note.

Testing your ears upper frequency threshold.

Reply #4 –
I think your results are perfectly normal.

If the mp3 didn't have content above 16khz, you wouldn't notice any difference between it playing or not.

Next, 16, 17Khz is an usual upper frequency threshold for someone of your age. Maybe the fact that you had it decayng since 13Khz is not that usual, but not too strange.

Next, as said by others, increasing the volume to listen to higher frequencies can:

a) break the tweeters.
b) damage more your ears (what do you thing the ringing was? The tone was playing loud)

A better way to test it was pointed out by an user a few months ago:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=65398

The fact that the samples there have a voiceover, prevents you from pushing the volume too high, and ensuring, at the same time, a truer threshold.

Edit: Doh! the link pointed in the post above mine is precisely the link mentioned in the thread i've pointed.

Testing your ears upper frequency threshold.

Reply #5 –
There's no need for the "D'oh!", IMO. The comments in that thread may help to put the OP's mind at rest regarding where his limit may be.

Cheers, Slipstreem. 

Testing your ears upper frequency threshold.

Reply #6 –
Just thought I would chime in with some extra information. If there is a constant ringing in your ear that's condition known as "tinnitus" and can result in hearing loss. There are a lot of people out there that have it from year's of high nosie exposure and many of them are unaware that they may even have mild forms of it. The number is somewhere around 50 million in the U.S 

Quote
I don't think you can do anything serious without proper audiology equipment, and ordinarily audiologists don't bother with very high frequencies, because they're irrelevant to speech.


This is true. Normally you would need an audiogram to interpret the results. The tests are mostly done on speech in the 250Hz-8kHz range according to literature. 

http://www.bcm.edu/oto/studs/aud.html
budding I.T professional
 

Testing your ears upper frequency threshold.

Reply #7 –
I thought the ringing in ears would cause some confusion, actually ringing probably wasn't even the right word. It's was just a very faint piercing sound that was so quiet I wasn't even sure if it was there    yeh probably confused things even more now 

Thanks for the links. My hearing threshold is 16kHz so not great but not bad either, perhaps the ridiculous amount of clubbing in my early 20s has something to do with that. Still it doesn't stop me from enjoying my music. Just to put your mind at ease my music listening levels are quite low so no damage from that.

I was thinking of dropping this kind of thread in another forum I frequent but I get the feeling it wouldn't be well received 

Testing your ears upper frequency threshold.

Reply #8 –
Wouldn't that be their problem?

Cheers, Slipstreem.