how high can you hear?

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:18 am

Machinesworking wrote:I hear all the way to 20khz at -11 db according to the test, which has to be wrong.

I suspect the speakers or to be playing lower frequency resonances (or maybe lower frequency aliases due to bad DAC filters?), which would allow you to hear "a tone" or "something" while it's not necessarily the original test-tone frequency.

Timur wrote:I can hear a 17 KHz testtone (sinus) at unity-gain and the Master fader of my analog mixer at around -40 dB in an untreated room (car noise coming through the closed windows, LCD display's electronics producing hum and high frequency buzz) with everything set to +4 dBU (the HS-80M have a marked setting for that). And yes, at least my left ear can even hear higher frequencies well around 19 KHz range at higher gain settings.

I am 33 years old and have been subject to loud music in both rock-band rehearsal/stage situations and work at a discotheque, so I expect other people to have better hearing than me (I'm suffering mild tinitus with at least two or three frequencies).

globalgoon · Post by **globalgoon** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:04 am

about 11khz

I can hear down to 14Hz on the same test ----- but I think that just means my ghetto blaster is distorting and creating overtones or something.

Hedroom · Post by **Hedroom** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:31 am

Using the Ableton test tone: At 18.4 KHz I can hear it. At 18.6 KHz I can't.

I surprised myself, I really thought my ears were fekked from all the abuse they've received over the last 12 years!

27 years old.

nathannn · Post by **nathannn** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 9:01 am

im 28
i can hear up to 18.9k ... its an awful screech around 14-18..
i remeber being 14 and my friend blowing a dog whistle ( humans are not suppose to hear it) it felt like my ears were going to pop.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 10:09 am

Thanks forge, if not for you I wouldn't know I have serious problem. 17,4 is not bad but my left ear is fucked 11-12k only. I wonder if it is permanent or just because last gigs, I remember adjusting the bloody monitor on my left side, the DJ I worked with turned it directly toward the booth sometime during the gig and I didnt notice it early enough. I was wearing headphones but not all the time. Last few jobs I was always on the left side of the booth, I am really pissed about being careless. I will probably give it a week to possibly recover then go to audiologist.
I am afraid it might be my wishful thinking. Now , need some tips how to work with such badly unbalanced hearing.
P.S. I did that online audiometry test, linked on the other thread - first with notebooks card then with 1616m . EMU almost flat, only one notch at 30 and 16k while huge jumps below 90 and above 12k using the notebook card, hardly surprising.

forge · Post by **forge** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:06 am

rikhyray wrote:Thanks forge, if not for you I wouldn't know I have serious problem. 17,4 is not bad but my left ear is fucked 11-12k only. I wonder if it is permanent or just because last gigs, I remember adjusting the bloody monitor on my left side, the DJ I worked with turned it directly toward the booth sometime during the gig and I didnt notice it early enough. I was wearing headphones but not all the time. Last few jobs I was always on the left side of the booth, I am really pissed about being careless. I will probably give it a week to possibly recover then go to audiologist.
I am afraid it might be my wishful thinking. Now , need some tips how to work with such badly unbalanced hearing.
P.S. I did that online audiometry test, linked on the other thread - first with notebooks card then with 1616m . EMU almost flat, only one notch at 30 and 16k while huge jumps below 90 and above 12k using the notebook card, hardly surprising.

yeah that worries me too - funny the weird experience of different ears -- I always kind of perceived that my left ear was the better one but now it looks like the other way round

I guess what tests like this show is that you can't take anything for granted and assume that it's all or nothing and you have perfect hearing until you go deaf, but instead you gradually start to lose the higher frequencies over time

bummer about 11-12 k though! - I am wondering if maybe I need to get mine syringed

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:31 am

rikhyray wrote:I will probably give it a week to possibly recover then go to audiologist.

Better go now, a damaged ear can rougly only be "repaired" in the first two days. At least that's what my doctor once told me. Once those hairs inside there are dead, they're dead.

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:40 pm

MIDI note 127 is a G. In equal temperment, that G is 12.5 KHz according to this chart.

The C immediately above that is ~16KHz, and the E above that is 21KHz. So those 5000 hertz some of you are missing at the top of the range = less than a major third. Ie. you're not missing much.

Really, most of the figures here are not that uncommon, and besides, in the environment most people here are doing the tests in they're hardly evidence of anything.

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:42 pm

How high can I hear?

REALLY high, but I'm trying to stop cuz I'm starting to get paranoid...

But seriously, folks... my previous career caused irreversible hearing damage, so I'm careful now. I want to protect what little hearing I've got left!

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:16 pm

Alcohol improves hearing - TD you just made my day

I wonder what effect hallucinogens would have on this, given that it is often quoted as being a highly creative element (rightly or wrongly) in music production, especially late 60's/early 70's. And then the acid house and rave culture of more modern times.

I guess it would be pretty difficult to manage an audio test on someone fecked off their head on LSD or shrooms etc. though

dancerchris · Post by **dancerchris** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:41 am

I don't hear anything past 16k and I had to turn up the volume to -22 dB to hear that. My room was noisy (computer fan with access panel off) but I was using Mackie 624's. However I did feel it (quite irritating actually). I turned it off above 17.3k cause it actually felt uncomfortable when I cranked the gain.

BTW, I am a oldy at 45, who played a bit in rock bands in the late 70's early 80's.

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:29 am

Timur wrote:
Machinesworking wrote:I hear all the way to 20khz at -11 db according to the test, which has to be wrong.
I suspect the speakers or to be playing lower frequency resonances (or maybe lower frequency aliases due to bad DAC filters?), which would allow you to hear "a tone" or "something" while it's not necessarily the original test-tone frequency.

Probably the speakers, or headphones. With headphones plugged directly into the Fireface 800, it's the same, but in many ways I'm sure it's my ears! Not kidding at all, I've had holes in them since I was six, and while high end is good, like another person posted, I get massive volume jumps in certain frequencies, indicating I'm overly sensitive to certain frequencies. Makes sense, I tend to scoop the Mids. Final mastering of my music is best done by a third party!

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:59 am

my ears start to roll off drastically at about 15k on Adam A7s.
I can still hear it at 16k, but there's a massive decline in volume.

38 years old.

ah fuck it, anything about 15.5 is for the birds anyway.

djgroovy · Post by **djgroovy** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:30 pm

31 - 17k.
Not bad, i've been djing since 1998.

ernene · Post by **ernene** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:07 pm

I'm 33.

16.2 khz...

Not as good as I would like, but, can't complain...