How to test your hearing

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Arguing about sound quality is great and fun. Let's test our own hearing and find out which frequencies to fight for. Or maybe it's time to not chase the sound quality, but to run to the doctor?

In continuation of the subject of audio, it is worth talking about the human hearing in a little more detail. How subjective is our perception? Can I test my hearing? Today you will learn the easiest way to find out if your hearing completely matches the table values.

It is known that the average person is able to perceive acoustic waves in the range from 16 to 20,000 Hz (depending on the source - 16,000 Hz). This range is called the audible range.

These figures are approximate. The fact is that in the process of growing up, and subsequently aging, the organs of hearing undergo changes. The result of these processes is not only a reduction in the audible range. Sometimes a person may not perceive not only the borderline frequencies, but also individual frequencies that are within the standard perceived range. In addition, frequencies below 100 Hz can be perceived not by hearing, but by touch or as a result of refraction of sound in the ear canal. These phenomena can lead to the perception of sounds that are not within the human-audible range.

On social networks and on sites that distribute various music content, you can find special test files. Initially, they are intended for fine tuning multichannel speaker systems. They are reproduced to search for conflicting frequencies and then cut off using the hardware or software included in the speaker system (crossovers and equalizers). Such audio files contain a recording of sound at a single frequency or a sequence of similar recordings created by an audio frequency generator.

Separate test books also contain additional information about the original wave amplitude, which allows you to equalize the loudness of multichannel acoustics elements in a room. Usually such files are edited in a special way: the signal modulation is additionally changed, noise is added, the amplitude varies. In our case, the simplest selection will suffice.

20 Hz	A hum that is only felt but not heard. It is reproduced mainly by top-end audio systems, so in case of silence it is she who is to blame
30 Hz	If not heard, most likely playback problems again
40 Hz	It will be heard in budget and mainstream speakers. But very quiet
50 Hz	The hum of an electric current. Must be heard
60 Hz	Hearable (like everything up to 100 Hz, rather tangible due to re-reflection from the auditory canal) even through the cheapest headphones and speakers
100 Hz	The end of the low frequencies. Beginning of line of hearing range
200 Hz	Mid frequencies
500 Hz
1 kHz
2 kHz
5 kHz	Start of high frequency range
10 kHz	If this frequency is not audible, serious hearing problems are likely. Doctor's consultation required
12 kHz	Failure to hear this frequency may indicate the initial stage of hearing loss
15 kHz	The sound that some people are not able to hear after 60 years
16 kHz	Unlike the previous one, almost all people after 60 years old do not hear this frequency.
17 kHz	Frequency is problematic for many already in middle age
18 kHz	Problems with hearing this frequency are the beginning of age-related hearing changes. You're an adult now.:)
19 kHz	Limiting frequency of the average hearing
20 kHz	This frequency is only heard by children. Truth

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This test is enough for a rough estimate, but if you do not hear sounds above 15 kHz, then you should see a doctor.

Note that the problem with hearing low frequencies is most likely related to the audio system.

Most often, the inscription on the box in the style of "Playable range: 1–25,000 Hz" is not even marketing, but an outright lie on the part of the manufacturer.

Unfortunately, companies are not obliged to certify all audio systems, so it is almost impossible to prove that this is a lie. Loudspeakers or headphones, perhaps, reproduce the cutoff frequencies … The question is how and at what volume.

Spectrum problems above 15 kHz are a common age-related phenomenon that users are likely to encounter. But 20 kHz (the very ones for which audiophiles are fighting so hard) are usually heard only by children under 8-10 years old.

It is enough to listen to all files sequentially. For a more detailed study, you can play samples, starting from the minimum volume, gradually increasing it. This will allow you to get a more correct result if your hearing is already a little damaged (recall that for the perception of some frequencies, it is necessary to exceed a certain threshold value, which, as it were, opens up, helps the hearing aid to hear it).

Can you hear the full frequency range that MP3 can store?