Pelican Hearing Test!

[jyl]

Originally Posted by javadog

Yes. I started a test and was concerned that I couldn’t hear anything below 100 Hz but then it dawned on me that I was listening to speakers that probably couldn’t produce anything below 100 Hz.

I think it is best to do the test with headphones or earbuds, and focus on the high frequencies.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by hbueno

I would think the results vary greatly depending on the quality of the earphones or speakers used in the test. Yes/no?

Absolutely

Originally Posted by javadog

Yes. I started a test and was concerned that I couldn’t hear anything below 100 Hz but then it dawned on me that I was listening to speakers that probably couldn’t produce anything below 100 Hz.

Right. I didn't even check the low end. I'll go back and do that.

Originally Posted by jyl

I think it is best to do the test with headphones or earbuds, and focus on the high frequencies.

agreed.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by jyl

I think it is best to do the test with headphones or earbuds, and focus on the high frequencies.

That’s helpful if you have such things in hand.

[masraum]

OK, I used the website above and my headphones which are a very nice set of headphones similar to the Bose QC35. I felt like I could hear down to about 18hz, but I could feel the pulses farther down the range. Then at 10hz, I stopped being able to tell anything was happening.

[herr_oberst]

I can’t sing I ain’t pretty and my legs are thin

I can’t hear, my skin’s sagging and my eyes are dim.

Oh well….

Edit. Thread got me thinking, so I downloaded a hearing test (not just a generator)..

I used very good quality Sennheiser over the ear headphones, as opposed to the wireless buds I used previously. Same result, about 8000. Here's the party piece - I was informed I have the hearing of a 75 year old!

Good Friday, indeed!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by javadog

That’s helpful if you have such things in hand.

Yep.

Pretty much anyone with a smart phone should have access to buds unless they've thrown them out or lost them. Doesn't pretty much every smart phone come with them?

[jyl]

So, I brought this topic up for two reasons. One is hi-fi / audiophilia, but I’ll start another thread about that. The other, that we may as well use this thread to talk about, is hearing loss and what to do about it.

I know people who have completely lost some or most of their hearing, sometimes very rapidly (I think it was due to disease or drug ototoxicity, though I’m not sure) and it is life-changing. Some get hearing aids or cochlear implants, and do the hard work to learn how to use them, and carry on okay. Others get withdrawn, socially remote, and stop interacting.

I am interested in learning if there are early warning signs of abnormal hearing loss, especially disease or drug related, and what you should do? And also about how you go about choosing and getting a hearing aid, with so many types both professionally fitted and off-the-shelf?

That’s abnormal hearing loss. Then there is normal hearing loss, which is what happens to most people as we age, especially in our unnaturally and extremely noisy environment.

(Before the Industrial Age, people weren’t exposed to a fraction of the noise that we are today. Go into the woods, it is quiet. Return to the city, it is loud even if you don’t ride motorcycles or play in a metal band. Our ears evolved to be sensitive enough for the quiet, not to withstand the loud.)

I’m interested in what is “normal” hearing loss, and what is abnormal like “you should get treatment!”. I found this not-very-authoritative-looking website that seems to suggest that most of the reports we’ve given here reflect pretty normal age-related loss with a little contribution from loud activities. https://decibelhearing.com/high-frequency-hearing-loss/

It claims:
- 8,000 Hz should be easily heard by everyone with normal hearing
- 12,000 Hz is hard for anyone over 50 years of age to hear
- 15,000 Hz is difficult for anyone over the age of 40 to hear
- 17,400 Hz is a frequency that only teenagers can hear. Most people over the age of 18 cannot hear this tone

What is normal hearing loss? What would - or should - make you consult a hearing doctor? Is there anything we can do now to improve our hearing or slow normal loss?

[javadog]

Originally Posted by masraum

Yep.

Pretty much anyone with a smart phone should have access to buds unless they've thrown them out or lost them. Doesn't pretty much every smart phone come with them?

I've never bought a smart phone, so I have no idea. Inherited a couple, didn't get squat with them. No music on my phone, so not I problem I have sought to solve.

Used to have a pair of stereo headphones, no idea if I still have them after my last move, wouldn't connect to a computer or phone, anyway.

[jyl]

I went looking for drug ototoxicity and found this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6791930/

One of the meds I'm on has a fairly high risk of ototoxicity - although that's "high" relative to a very low overall rate, I think/hope.

[wdfifteen]

I have one of those high-frequency animal repellents in my barn. I can't hear it and it doesn't work on mice or chipmunks so I forgot it was even there. My 14 year old grandson was helping me in the barn last summer and said, "What's that awful sound?" He poked around and found it. He had to unplug it in order to be in the building.

[porsche4life]

I’m 30 and I can hear up to about 15.5k. I go to a fair number of concerts, worked around heavy equipment in my youth, and shot a fair number of spoons. But I’ve always been pretty judicious about hearing protection save for a few concerts where I simply forgot to bring anything.

I do have a *constant* ringing sound in my ears, and I hate a quiet room because of it. I’ve figured out that it’s due to a nerve in my neck that get pinched and the sound goes away for a few days after a chiropractor visit, but it comes back along with the associated pain after about a week.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

I do have a *constant* ringing sound in my ears, and I hate a quiet room because of it.

Guy I work with said exactly the same thing as you this morning. First time in my life I ever heard someone say I need noise all the time and you follow with the identical scenario.

I just sent him a text about your "relief" and he is going to look into it.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I have one of those high-frequency animal repellents in my barn. I can't hear it ..............

I am still trying to wrap my head around you being in those big metal tire molds with a pneumatic hammer. An echo chamber.

[Hugh R]

Surprised 67 y/o, heavy artillery when I was 17-19


Worked as a mechanic,20-22y/o,


My fair share of Led Zepplin, Janis Joplin, Alice Cooper, , etc.

Iphone, plug in apple ear phones.

[herr_oberst]

I'm thankful for this thread, because I was having a hard time choosing between 30.7 Magnaplaners and IRSV's but now I realize it might probably be money wasted.

(Thread hijack, this guy Paul will let anyone check out these IRS' during business hours, and I'd love to hear them, even though most of the subtleties would be lost on my tin ears.)

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

This web site is a quick alternative to downloading an app:

https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

I followed the instructions on the site for setting the volume around 1 kHz at a comfortable level. By up around 5 kHz I could barely hear anything - without increasing the volume.
I am essentially deaf in my right ear - but wear a hearing aid when out and about. 59 years young.

On my phone speaker at full volume, I got to 11 kHz, but after 9, it all sounds the same.

62

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

Guy I work with said exactly the same thing as you this morning. First time in my life I ever heard someone say I need noise all the time and you follow with the identical scenario.

I just sent him a text about your "relief" and he is going to look into it.

Hope it works for him. Sometimes it takes a few adjustments to get it all straightened out.

I’m too active and tend to mess it all up by doing something I shouldn’t be. 🤣

[dad911]

Interesting. On my laptop speakers I can hear up to 11,500. At 12,000 I can sense a presence if I turn it on and off, but don't hear a tone.

Will try later with headphones.