Speak up I can't hear you!

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally Posted by Grimm

I heard it all the way to the end (20,000). I've rarely been exposed to loud sounds. I'm 56 YO.

Wow, you are a serious outlier there.

Frankly, given my hobbies (loud music, shooting, motorcycling, and various shop activities) I'm surprised my hearing range is as good as it is.

[herr_oberst]

I did about 12 different waves and volumes, home and at work, and it was always about 12000.

I feel pretty good about that considering the tinnitis.

[J P Stein]

Bout 9000. At 70 , I feel lucky to be alive......if semi-deaf.

[ckelly78z]

I'll try it again in a quiet house when my deaf wife isn't watching TV, hopefully i'll improve on my 13,500 reading. I can always hear every little creak and groan of the house at night, and every car passing (light sleeper) so I run a fan for white noise, and wear earplugs when camping.

[campbellcj]

I got around 14KHz no prob. Will try again later with headphones. I have a rare hearing disorder (Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome) in my left ear that attenuates lower frequencies by 40-50dB or so along with other symptoms, but the high stuff, no prob. All the loud music and loud cars also mostly impacts the upper-bass and mids.

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by J P Stein

Bout 9000. At 70 , I feel lucky to be alive......if semi-deaf.

Same...'bout 9500.
.
Gun fire - hunted since I was 10...I'll be 70 in Dec.
Jet engines.
Loud rock music back when stereo was called 'high fidelity'.
.
I woke up this morning...that's good enough for me.

[A930Rocket]

11650. 56 Y/O on my laptop speakers.

[mreid]

13,428 with just iPad speakers. 58 and just had my hearing tested with excellent results. I need to find some headphones.

[bob deluke]

Got to 5500 on my wife's IPad. In the kitchen, t.v. Sound off. Wall clock ticking in background. I'm 68, retired 4/1. Wife said I can't hear for crap. All this time I thought it was selective hearing after being married 37 years! I'm screwed now! Will not let wife know about this foolish test! I am perfectly fine...please turn volumn up on t.v. Dear...

[targa911S]

I failed pitifully...can't understand why....

[mattdavis11]

12450. 40 Y/O, wearing headphones, and tinnitus takes over after that. My right ear quit before my left.

[R K T]

7200.....But 400+ Grateful Dead shows and growing up at Lions Drag Strip and then working at a cannery on the LA Harbor docks maaaaay have had something to do with the score!

[dennis in se pa]

Loud motorcycles, music and convertibles with the top always down......My hearing is horrible. "Audiologist" tried to sell me 2 - $3000 Siemens hearing aids. Right. Don't forget - if you lose one there goes another $3000. I felt like I was at a used car lot. No other options - he was going for a home run or nothing. Well he got nothing. I found a small BTE unit that Walmart and Sears sell for $400 that works great. I wear one in my "good" ear. Works great in most situations. Don't buy that "filters out unwanted sounds" BS they try to give you. Everyone I know who wears a hearing aid says that when it gets loud and you are in a room full of voices, and you want to hear a particular voice, you are out of luck.

[Crowbob]

All hearing 'instruments' filter out unwanted sounds when the battery is dead or while they're sitting on the dresser.

My hearing loss is from a war injury: Battle of the Bands, 1973.

[Aragorn]

Some of you older guys are lucky. Mine is more like speak down to me. I didn't crack 10k. Tinnitus coupled with what feels like stopped up ears. Maybe time to visit the doc for a cleaning. Everything always sounds tinny for a few days after they are cleaned out but I do hear better and everything is much much louder...

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by targa911S

I failed pitifully...can't understand why....

It's not a competition....please, no wagering.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by targa911S

I failed pitifully...can't understand why....

That's OK, they grade on the curve. We just need more 9000 guys to post up.

[Deschodt]

Not sure how good a test this is for actual hearing... I got 14000 which is not awful, but I find I'm having more and more problems dissociating between 2 or 3 sound sources. I can hear a pin drop at night, but add a dishwasher, a kid on the ipad close by, and I cannot hear TV anymore....

I read recently that's not actually a hearing issue, it's aging of the brain and a reduction of its capacity to sort through this mess. That did not make me feel better either ;-(

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

Not sure how good a test this is for actual hearing... I got 14000 which is not awful, but I find I'm having more and more problems dissociating between 2 or 3 sound sources. I can hear a pin drop at night, but add a dishwasher, a kid on the ipad close by, and I cannot hear TV anymore....

I read recently that's not actually a hearing issue, it's aging of the brain and a reduction of its capacity to sort through this mess. That did not make me feel better either ;-(

Well, sort of. As your ears lose their ability to perceive and/or to send the sound impulses to your brain, your brain tries to accomodate. For an electronic analogy, think microphones, amplifiers and speakers. Turning up the volume is not always helpful. With a bad signal, say with poor radio reception for example, it just sounds worse when you crank up the big knob. Adjusting the equalizer to increase amplification of certain frequencies is much more beneficial in many cases. Add to that the frequency of human speech is very narrow. This phenomenon accounts for why hearing impaired people are often aware of people speaking but are not able to understand the words. Technically it's called 'speech discrimination'.

People generally lose the higher frequencies first because the smaller more sensistive cilia in the cochlea break off first. Initially, T, D and S sounds disappear. _ry rea_ing with tho__ le__er_ mi__ing and you ge_ the i_ea.

Also, like vision where good depth perception requires two eyes, good hearing requires two good ears for sound identification (timbre) and its location. You may notice people with recent onset hearing loss are often startled or confused by previously common sounds.

As an aside, one's hearing loss is extremely frustrating for the people around oneself. Hearing loss is particularly interesting because those without the loss get angry with those with the loss. 'Why aren't you listening to me?' or 'Why are you ignoring me.' Sometimes people even misinterpret another person's hearing loss as a cognitive impairment.

Further, the loss of hearing is often more devastating than loss of vision because hearing loss separates people from people while vision loss separates people from things.

Sorry for the long digression, here.

So please, speak UP-not DOWN.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

I read recently that's not actually a hearing issue, it's aging of the brain and a reduction of its capacity to sort through this mess. That did not make me feel better either ;-(

I hope it's not aging of the brain, because I've had speech discrimination problems since I was in my 40s. When I'm watching TV in a quiet room people ask me to turn it up. I can hear it just fine at low volumes. But add someone in the background having a conversation and I may as well turn it off. All the voices sound the same volume and it's hard to tell what direction the individual voice are coming from.