Quick Hearing "Poll"

[stubbsonic]

From time to time I run sine waves to see where my ears roll off. It's never great news. Now in my late 50's I've crossed below 10K, to more like 9K. On one hand, music still sounds nice, but I do struggle to understand speech when it competes with other sounds.

I don't really know what is typical for folks in these music/sound professions.

Is there a way to set up an anonymous poll with ages & frequency cutoffs?

I'm also wondering at what point I'll need to shift my professional activities.

[bayswater]

There are a zillion studies showing db decline in hearing threshold levels by age and frequency. These might show you what you need to know. Here's a quick example, that came up first on a search, but I'm sure you could find many more with test frequencies and db levels closer to your area of concern. This one, for example, shows a 30db decline in threshold for men aged 55 at 8K.

http://roger-russell.com/hearing/hearing.htm

I suspect your thresholds are not that unusual. I did a stint in a cognition lab a very long time ago where hearing thresholds were measured, and while human hearing is thought to be 20 to 20K, I recall 14K was a more typical practical limit for people in their early 20s.

It's amazing what the brain does too. I know my right ear can go a few db lower at high frequencies than the left, yet, when I listen to a high freq sin wave, I still hear it in the centre of the stereo image.

[stubbsonic]

I keep thinking I should have started working with some kind of tactile hearing aid so that as my hearing dips into non-functional, my brain will have made the adaptations needed. Too bad that tech is fairly experimental at this point.

I guess it is comforting to know that my limitations are fairly common. My mom has pretty severe hearing loss-- though she could not live a more quiet life. If it runs in the family, I suppose I should start thinking about options.

[Michael Canavan]

I've had hearing loss since I was 6, flus that led to ear infections etc.
I think most people get really worked up about the high end when they probably shouldn't
I definitely have worse hearing than my drummer and he just couldn't hear a ping on a synth part in a mix I clearly could hear, and promptly fixed.
The highest end of the hearing range is a limited note range as well, like maybe four notes. In the spectrum of sound we live in music, notes are important, polish (the gloss of the high end) just isn't that relevant. I definitely use spectrum analyzers to make sure I'm not inadvertently making my tracks Mp3 limited but in general I don't worry too much about it.

The one lame part of years of rock concerts and that hearing loss is that certain high frequencies at too loud of a volume make my eardrum rattle like a broken speaker, so I no longer mix at ridiculous volumes, which you shouldn't do anyway.

[stubbsonic]

Thanks, Mike. I'm trying not to get "worked up" or bummed. It is what it is. I'm just thinking a bit about how to ease into these next phases of life.

[mikehalloran]

Using AudioTest.app, $4.99 in the App Store, I find that I can discern audio up to 12k. At 13.5k, I can tell it it's on or off. Above that, I have no idea what I am or am not hearing, only that there's something there. I think it's because I'm used to making decisions in that range that my brain can tell what's going on. I certainly do not believe that my hearing's better. In my case, the medications I'm on create a constant white noise and I don't hear audio below that threshold at all.

https://www.katsurashareware.com/audiotest/

Interestingly, it can output to my various ports bypassing System Preferences/Sound

[stubbsonic]

Thanks, M.H. I've been using AudioTest for about 18 years-- for lots of tasks. I've run sweeps and tones in classes to demonstrate hearing range, noise types and more.

There's an iOS app called Oscillator that can run sines and pan (so I can test my ears independently. My left ear is just below 9K, and my right ear is just above.

[mikehalloran]

Thanks, M.H. I've been using AudioTest for about 18 years-- for lots of tasks. I've run sweeps and tones in classes to demonstrate hearing range, noise types and more.

There's an iOS app called Oscillator that can run sines and pan (so I can test my ears independently. My left ear is just below 9K, and my right ear is just above.

Yea, I have no idea how long I've been using AudioTest. I had to check whether it was paid or free — just couldn't remember. Anyway, I really like it and barley use the functionality.

This evening, my wife wandered in wondering why I'm mastering the Amen from a Palestrina motet with my monitors cranked. I rehearsed it fading to ppp at the end. I had to explain again that, when the volume drops below a certain level, I cannot hear music through the white noise in my brain.

[monkey man]

Yup. Severe tinnitis for 40 years and HF loss here.

Last time I checked I couldn't hear above 12k but that was during the '90s I think.

Stubbsy, my "solution" is not to mess with the super-high end. Leave it be. You can adjust brightness / presence / sparkle to-taste and still make judgements from where you sit on the "spectrum" IMHO. Just try to resist nudging the 12->20kHz range up and leave it be. Far too much ear-assaulting action going on up there nowadays anyway IMHO.

"Natural" wins every time.

[stubbsonic]

Brain plasticity is our friend here. If my hearing went from 15K down to 9K in a moment, it would sound like earplugs. But as my brain adapts, the world still seems pretty normal-- just can't hear what my wife is saying while the water is running.

[bayswater]

can't hear what my wife is saying while the water is running.

I'd never get away with that excuse.

[monkey man]

[HCMarkus]

Years ago, while working in an office environment, I walked by a co-worker's cubicle and heard the aural assault that we used to commonly be exposed to by failing Video Display Tubes. My fellow worker, who was quite a bit older than me, was completely unaware that his VDT was emitting an extremely loud and objectionable (to me) 13k whine on a constant basis.

Not sure it would even cause me to raise an eyebrow today.

I am SO THANKFUL for in-ear monitoring while performing live. I only wish I had been able to use in-ears earlier in my career. I am also thankful for the development of the cochlear implant. It's why I can still converse with my 88 year old mom. Musicians will benefit from this technology, too. Although it is not yet advanced enough to allow enjoyment of music (23 electrodes only roughly approximate the many thousands of receptors it replaces), cochlear implants will prevent many of us from sinking into stupefying the depths of deafness.

[Rick Cornish]

My hearing is diminished in my right ear… I suspect from the raging side fills that were next to me when I was in a rock band in the late 70s. I had my hearing tested ages ago at an AES conference and I was markedly down at 4kHz on the right, then back up to almost normal until after 12kHz. I was tested at Mayo Clinic years later and got about the same result. Occupational hazard, I guess. I do a quick flip on my mixes beforeI print to make sure I'm not over-compensating someplace. Otherwise, it's not a huge problem… unless asking my wife to repeat herself is a problem.