Notes by ff123
Find out where your hearing cuts off using a 10.2 to 21.6 kHz tone sweep (generated at -12dB FS) I have made available on my Audio Samples Page as sweep.zip. Be careful! When using headphones especially, it's easy to play things too loud. If you have a sound editor like Cool Edit, you can use the frequency analysis tool to determine your high-frequency cutoff. To get a better idea of your overall hearing response, check out Kevin Donohue's page. In real life, hearing acuity in the critical region from 500 to 6000Hz is of far greater concern than the very high frequencies.
If you use a Windows operating system, don't forget to set the samplerate conversion quality to "best" from within Set to Control Panel / Multimedia / Audio / Playback Advanced Properties / Performance
If you are really into do-it-yourself testing, and wish to perform a more accurate test over a very wide frequency range, visit Digital Recordings and pick up a test CD ($25) and a DR1-R acoustical calibrator ($39). Then visit a Radio Shack and pick up a Sound Level Meter for about $35. Or you could visit an audiologist, which is what you should do if you suspect hearing loss.
For the tone sweep: if you don't have a sound editing tool, you can use elapsed time to estimate frequency. The table below converts elapsed time to frequency.
When I tried it on myself (I'm 39 years old), I found that with the system I'm using I can hear up to about 16kHz. My 6 year old son, using the same pair of headphones (Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro) at the same volume, could hear up to 20.8kHz. If I turned up the volume, perhaps I could hear up to 17kHz, but definitely no higher.
There's a word for my condition: it's called presbycusis, which is defined as hearing loss associated with (but not necessarily caused by!) aging.
As one who's enjoyed audio all my life, I must say that I'm disappointed that I've lost so much of my hearing over the years -- I used to be able to hear the 19kHz hum of the high-voltage switching power supplies in TV's, but that's what happens as one grows older. Advice to fellow audio enthusiasts: buy the best equipment you can while you're still young!
| Elapsed Time (sec) | Frequency (kHz) |
| 0.0 | 10.2 |
| 0.5 | 11.0 |
| 1.0 | 11.9 |
| 1.5 | 12.8 |
| 2.0 | 13.7 |
| 2.5 | 14.5 |
| 3.0 | 15.4 |
| 3.5 | 16.3 |
| 4.0 | 17.2 |
| 4.5 | 18.1 |
| 5.0 | 18.9 |
| 5.5 | 19.8 |
| 6.0 | 20.7 |
| 6.5 | 21.6 |