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 How High Can You Hear?
Author: Ken Shaw 2017
Date:   2009-07-12 02:29

Here are tones from 8 kHz to 22.4 kHz. http://www.ultrasonic-ringtones.com/

I can hear 12 kHz easily, 14.1 kHz with the volume turned up and 14.9 kHz just barely -- not bad for 66-year-old ears, but I never listen to rock and I always use earplugs on the subway and midtown streets.

Clean out the wax and let us know how high you can go.

Ken Shaw

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: skygardener 
Date:   2009-07-12 02:34

Assuming that my $5 no name PC speakers are actually producing all these pitches, I can here up to the C- 16.7kHz

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Curinfinwe 
Date:   2009-07-12 02:47

I can hear up to 19.9, but then, I'm 16, so that's expected, right? And for the ones higher than that, I can fell something, but not so much hear it. My ears feel a bit strange after hearing 22.1 and 22.4.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: David Spiegelthal 2017
Date:   2009-07-12 03:23

I could hear up to about 20kHz when I was 30, but now at 51 after too many years of playing in rock bands and sitting in front of the trumpets in orchestras, I can barely hear 12kHz. In other words, I've lost about an octave. It's very noticeable to me, and I have a lot more trouble hearing speech than I used to.

Word to the wise: If it feels too loud to you, it probably is -- do yourself a favor for the future, and wear earplugs.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Mark Charette 
Date:   2009-07-12 03:33

14.1- not a problem at mid-volume
14.9 - I know something's there at high volume, but my minor case of tinnitus masks it out.

Surprising to me ... I thought my hearing was worse.



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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: EEBaum 
Date:   2009-07-12 06:05

My lousy laptop speakers are a limiting factor on this one. The 19k sample sounds about an octave higher than the 21, the 18k higher still than the 19k, and I don't hear the 22 at all. I can whistle the pitch the 21k plays. The 15k is painful.

-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: EEBaum 
Date:   2009-07-12 06:35

On better speakers, I can hear up to the 16.7. I'm also hearing some undertones on the higher ones.

-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: garyeestra 
Date:   2009-07-12 07:36

i can only hear up to 16.7 and im only 18
uggh

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: clarnibass 
Date:   2009-07-12 07:45

Best hearing for this is around 12 years old, then it gradually become worse.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2009-07-12 13:07

16.7kHz for me but no higher than that, and I'm only just 37.

My ears hurt now!

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: chris moffatt 
Date:   2009-07-12 14:35

Thanks Ken, very interesting but discouraging. Left ear <10Khz; right ear 12Khz. Result of a bad ear infection some years ago. I knew I'd lost some hearing back then but not that much. Of course I'm older now too so that has to factor in. Can't tell you-all how old, don't want you all feeling sorry for me!

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Wicked Good 2017
Date:   2009-07-12 14:52

Wow. I can only hear the lowest frequency. All those years playing in jazz big bands have apparently taken their toll.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world:
Those who understand binary math, and those who don't.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Koo Young Chung 
Date:   2009-07-12 14:56

How do you know your speaker produce the sound?

Maybe it's not your ear,maybe no sound coming out at all from your speaker.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: cxgreen48 
Date:   2009-07-12 15:18

I can hear up to 18.8 kHz.
I only hear the starting and the stopping sounds for 19.9 and 21.1 kHz though.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: tictactux 2017
Date:   2009-07-12 15:38

> How do you know your speaker produce the sound?
> Maybe it's not your ear,maybe no sound coming out at all from your speaker.

That's what I'm comforting myself with as well...

--
Ben

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: thomas.b 
Date:   2009-07-12 16:09

wow... now I recognized, why I love bass clarinet : I am 47 and using the bass clarinet I can hear what I play....;-)

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: DavidBlumberg 
Date:   2009-07-12 16:12

17.7 Still loud - got to 18.8 still could hear, but faintly.

I'm 45

My 12 yr old was yelling from the upper floor - DAD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING????

http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com


Post Edited (2009-07-12 16:52)

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Don Berger 
Date:   2009-07-12 16:25

Me too, W G and thomas b, can't hear anything at 8K [age 90]. Prob. too much companionship with tpts, tmbs, timps and other concussion types, in a so-called career, music AND pet./chem. plants. Lots of "hiss freq." tinitus day/nite etc, ?white noise? Also, am not sure I "did rite" computer etc.-wise. Honey-do and I play the TVs quite loud. Fun tho, TKS, Ken. Don

Thanx, Mark, Don

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: susieray 
Date:   2009-07-12 16:42

I had the same experience Blummy had, my 16-year-old son came running into the room begging me to turn it off. He's like, "OMG WHAT IS THAT? It sounds like some kind of dog whistle or something!"

I'm almost 55, couldn't hear any of them....but then I have a pretty bad hearing loss I was born with; even with the speakers turned up all the way and both hearing aids turned up, still nothing except the little "click click" sound which was the same on all of them...

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2009-07-12 17:15

I'm surprised I couldn't hear the next semitone up from 16.7 killerhurts.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: GuitarGirl 
Date:   2009-07-12 17:21

I could hear 18.8, barely 19.9. The washing machine is going in the next room over though, but I doubt it made much of a difference.

I'm 17.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2009-07-12 17:28

I'll try it through proper speakers instead of headphones and see if that makes any difference.

Right, just done that and no difference - still the same top note for me.

But I've been playing around with beat frequencies by playing two or more frequencies at the same time (shame they don't last any longer than they do) to see what other notes can be made from these - interestingly the highest note played at the same time as the semitone below it doesn't have any effect at all, so I doubt the highest frequency is even there.

My ears are really sore now!

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

Post Edited (2009-07-12 17:40)

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Lelia Loban 2017
Date:   2009-07-12 17:31

Well, this is a little strange. I heard everything clearly up to 14.9 mHz. I wasn't sure I could hear 14.9 mHz, but it made my ears itch. Then I definitely could hear 15.8, 16.7 and 17.7 mHz. Ergo, either my sound card's got a dead spot or my ears have a dead spot. I can understand how that could happen with a sound card (mine's a cheap consumer card), but is it possible to be selectively deaf for a narrow slice of the sound spectrum and still be able to hear above it?

From 18.8 on up, I got the itchy-ears thing. "Itch" may be the wrong word for this phenomenon: I had a violent desire to rub or swat at my ears, much the same reaction as if a mosquito's buzzing me, but I really couldn't hear anything I'd define as an unambiguous tone at those pitches. I tried the tones again, out of sequence this time, and once again found that I couldn't be sure I heard 14.9 mHz, but I could hear on both sides of it. I'm 61.

Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.

Post Edited (2009-07-12 17:32)

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Wicked Good 2017
Date:   2009-07-12 17:50

Strange. I couldn't hear past 8 kHz on my desktop computer speakers. But I could hear up to 14.1 kHz on my MacBook's internal speakers. I got the "buzz" at 14.9 kHz, but that's as far as I got. Still, that's better that I thought!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world:
Those who understand binary math, and those who don't.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: cigleris 
Date:   2009-07-12 18:25

This is what I got,

"You are about 20 years old
The teen repellent will no longer foil you, but you can still hear some pretty high tones.

The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 16.7kHz"

Not bad for 30 and considering i've sat infront of brass sections playing as loud as they can for a significant period of my life

Peter Cigleris

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: mrn 
Date:   2009-07-12 18:51

I can hear 16.7 kHz on my laptop. I'm 32.

Apparently it is possible to have selective hearing loss limited to a particular frequency or range of frequencies. One of my engineering professors in college, who had been in the Air Force, once remarked that he knew of people who had experienced this kind of frequency-selective hearing loss as a result of working with weaponry that produced noise at the frequency of loss.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: JJAlbrecht 
Date:   2009-07-12 20:54

I have really bd speakers with my older Dell, and they onmly reliably reproduced the 8KHz tone. Above that, I could hear undertones and humming. I have swome hearing loss in the right ear, but I just had it tested last year, and even with the loss, I could still make out many of the higher tones. Next time I'm back to the doctor, I'll ask him what the real results were.

Jeff

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2009-07-12 21:21

I did lose the hearing in my left ear during a rehearsal once - I had a piccolo player sat to my immediate left who belted out the top notes, and all of them were well sharp. The initial whistling that started in my ear got louder and then it was if my inner ear just shut down completely to protect itself.

For the remainder of the rehearsal I couldn't hear at all from my left ear and this was worrying as I couldn't hear well enough to tell if I was in tune or what note I was actually playing. I could have been playing anything and I wouldn't have noticed if it was right or wrong.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: skygardener 
Date:   2009-07-12 22:35

"My 12 yr old was yelling from the upper floor - DAD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING????"
That's really cool actually.
You should answer, "Oh, just practicing a few high notes".

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: DavidBlumberg 
Date:   2009-07-12 23:23

Then he would try them too  :)

He was practicing a few weeks ago downstairs where I have a Buffet Fingering Chart on the wall. I hear (altissimo) G, G#, aaaA

Cracked me up. Han-Kim can probably get a D by now, but he's no Han-Kim.

http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com


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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: MondeLuna 
Date:   2009-07-12 23:26

17.7 kHz and I'm 26 is that bad? Maybe I should wear earplugs more often... Kinda depressing

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: pewd 
Date:   2009-07-12 23:31

21.1

dunno how accurate this is - wonder how good my pc speakers are - i'm almost 52 - i shouldn't be able to hear that

- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: chris moffatt 
Date:   2009-07-13 00:44

"How do you know your speaker produce the sound?

Maybe it's not your ear,maybe no sound coming out at all from your speaker."

Thanks for trying to cheer me up but this was through a Yamaha amp 20 - 22Khz and Bose concert speakers. Besides it drove my cat totally crazzzzzzy

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: skygardener 
Date:   2009-07-13 04:26

How high are these pitches in relation to the top C on a piano?

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: DavidBlumberg 
Date:   2009-07-13 04:37

Top C is low compared to most of them.

http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com


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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: mrn 
Date:   2009-07-13 04:37

skygardener wrote:

> How high are these pitches in relation to the top C on a piano?

Top C on a piano is 4 octaves above middle C.

Middle C is 440*2^(-9/12) = 261.6255653 Hz

So top C is 261.6255653*2^4 = 261.6255653 * 16 = 4186.0090448 Hz

So 8 kHz (the lowest of these tones on the site Ken found) is slightly flatter than an octave (twice the frequency) above the piano's top C. (The B above top C is 7902 Hz, so 8 kHz is somewhere between a B and a C)



Post Edited (2009-07-13 04:41)

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: clarinetguy 2017
Date:   2009-07-13 16:23

Thanks for the interesting link. I'm in my mid 50s, and there is definitely some hearing loss. I can hear 14.1 kHz and I can barely detect 14.9 with the volume all the way up. At 15.8 kHz I can sense something that gives me a slightly uncomfortable feeling, but I really can't hear it.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Bartmann 
Date:   2009-07-13 19:02

What would be the Hz for the following:

High pitched sensors at the entrance of a retail store to detect stolen items.

High pitched machines designed to keep animals away? These sounds are so high pitched and highly reflective that they bounce off objects.

Car brakes that need repairs.

A television, not flat screen, that's turned on but the volume is on mute.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: mrn 
Date:   2009-07-13 19:54

Bartmann wrote:

> What would be the Hz for the following:
>
> High pitched sensors at the entrance of a retail store to
> detect stolen items.

Don't know about this one.

> High pitched machines designed to keep animals away? These
> sounds are so high pitched and highly reflective that they
> bounce off objects.

Depends on what you want to repel. Dog and cat repellers operate around 20 kHz. Machines designed for rodents operate at higher frequencies (over 30 kHz, for example).

> Car brakes that need repairs.

Between about 2 kHz and 11 kHz, according to this reference

> A television, not flat screen, that's turned on but the volume
> is on mute.

That's about 15.7 kHz on a North American or Japanese TV. About 15.6 kHz on European models. (Thus making American TV's slightly sharper....by a few cents anyway...OK, bad pun, but I couldn't resist.) The familiar whine in an analog/CRT TV is generated by the oscillator that causes the electron gun in the tube to scan across each line. Each line takes about 64 microseconds to scan, which is the period of the whine.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: BobD 
Date:   2009-07-13 22:14

I think there's something wrong with the download or my equipment since I cant hear above 12. The link says Phone/PC and I'm on a Mac. I know it's not me......haha.

Bob Draznik

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: DavidBlumberg 
Date:   2009-07-13 23:56

Some speakers certainly have a very, very small dynamic range. That could be it. I've got mine hooked up to my stereo.

http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com


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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: awm34 
Date:   2009-07-14 00:39

I can barely hear 15.8. Will turn 75 in October.
Alan Messer

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Wes 
Date:   2009-07-14 03:50

Sensors at retail store doors are often radio frequency devices. The store products are fitted with tiny antennas with diodes which emit RF harmonics when radiated, which are picked up by receivers. In these RF systems, no ultrasonic devices are used.

At 80, I am lucky to hear 12Khz and to detect 14.1Khz. It was worse 20 years ago according to prior hearing tests. Or were they trying to sell hearing aids?

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: BobD 
Date:   2009-07-14 11:08

My dog has stopped howling when I play. Maybe I should play the test for him.

Bob Draznik

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: aero145 
Date:   2009-07-14 12:08

I have lousy speakers, but I heard a long beep at 21.1kHz. Not bad I guess…

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: lrooff 
Date:   2009-07-15 17:51

I heard the 8khz sound, but that's it. Lost most of my hearing in Vietnam, which is why I gave up plans for a career as a bassoonist. Our community band tolerates my noise, but I wouldn't want to make a living at it. I suspect that if I hadn't been using my headphones, it would have driven my critters up the wall. Incidentally, speaking of critters, did you know that cats can hear up to 64 khz? That's also why we can't hear their "silent meow." They aren't just faking it; they're meowing in the ultrasonic range.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2009-07-17 10:53

"> What would be the Hz for the following:

> A television, not flat screen, that's turned on but the volume is on mute.

That's about 15.7 kHz on a North American or Japanese TV. About 15.6 kHz on European models. (Thus making American TV's slightly sharper....by a few cents anyway...OK, bad pun, but I couldn't resist.) The familiar whine in an analog/CRT TV is generated by the oscillator that causes the electron gun in the tube to scan across each line. Each line takes about 64 microseconds to scan, which is the period of the whine."

When I recently bought an LCD telly and switched it on for the first time, I thought it wasn't working as it didn't make that high pitched whistle like my old CRT one (and all the other tellys before that) did.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: LesterV 
Date:   2009-07-17 16:54

I couldn't hear any of them. Another hearing test website that went lower in frequency confirmed my speakers were working and I couldn't hear the 8 KHz and also had moderate loss at 2 KHz and 4 KHz.

My hearing loss is due to an auto accident several years ago that triggered all 4 airbags at once, generating a severe pressure wave. My ears have also been ringing ever since. An audiologist said this a common result of airbag deployment.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2009-07-17 20:17

Add to that trombone players that slam tailgates down on estate cars. I made sure with a particular trombone player who I gave lifts to that I opened the front windows to prevent the sudden pressure wave.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Claire Annette 
Date:   2009-07-18 02:07

Our family tested it on our headphones with the laptop.

Hubby and I (in our late 40s) could only hear to A 14.1 kHz. Our 17 year-old could hear much higher.

There's a guy in our community band who is hard of hearing. He plays VERY loudly ALL the time and when he thinks he's whispering, the rest of us can hear him clearly, i.e. "I CAN'T STAND THIS PIECE OF MUSIC, YOU KNOW?"

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Avie 
Date:   2009-07-18 20:32

I can hear up to 14.1 but cannot hear 15 to 17, but can clearly hear 18 thru 21. Weird, I know. I am much older than 20. It may be a good question to ask an ear doctor. But it was a fun test. Thanks.



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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: timg 
Date:   2009-07-18 22:22

Digital sound equipment may generate lower harmonics when playing high frequencies, due to the way the sampling frequency (usually 44.1kHz or 48kHz) interferes or "beats" with the frequency of the sound wave. Professional sound gear often uses extremely high sampling frequencies to retain fidelity at high frequencies.

For example, I can clearly hear something when my PC plays a 20kHz tone, but I know that the limit of my hearing is 16.9kHz. An analysis of the sound from the PC's speakers shows a peak at 20kHz, and a second peak at 16kHz. It's this second peak which I can hear.



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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: BobD 
Date:   2009-07-19 12:20

"he thinks he's whispering, " Ah, yes, whispering is the lesser of the problems the old hard of hearing codgers foist on us...

Bob Draznik

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: blazian 
Date:   2009-07-20 17:43

I just turned 17 a few days ago and sadly I only got up to 17.7 (the C#). I'm going deaf in my right ear from my heavy piccolo practice though. Thankfully bass clarinets aren't required to play that high. I think later I'll try it on the Bose to see if it's the speakers (though they're pretty high quality Harman/Kardons).

- Martin

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: GeorgeL 2017
Date:   2009-07-20 17:58

Martin - you can get inexpensive foam earplugs rated at -30db from your drugstore or Home Depot/Lowes. Use one in your right ear when you play piccolo and you might still be hearing with that ear when you get older.



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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Avie 
Date:   2009-07-20 19:25

I didnt have my speakers up high enough. Now I can hear all the way up thru 21.1 KHZ. Im surprised. I didnt think my hearing was that good. Im going to see how others do with it. Thanks.



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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: richard1952 
Date:   2009-07-20 19:57

I can barely hear the 8K since I have a high frequency hearing loss that starts diminishing at 1K. This has been confirmed by a recent hearing test with my Dr. Does not seem to affect my playing that I am aware of. Do we really need to hear above 8K?

This loss is attributed to doing a lot of target shooting with revolver and rifle in the early 50's. No one warned me about ear protection. My right ear is the worst since it was closest to the firearm.

richardseaman@cox.net

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: BobD 
Date:   2009-07-20 20:44

Yes, turning the volume up helps a lot.

Bob Draznik

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: Sylvain 
Date:   2009-07-28 19:48

This is a little difficult to assess as I can hear all the way to 21.1kHz with good headphones (Denon AH-D2000) as well as my monitors (MAudio StudioPro 3) and volume at ~ 25%. unless we can measure the decibel input at ear this is very difficult to evaluate.

Anyway, fun to try...

--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>

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 Re: How High Can You Hear?
Author: DougR 
Date:   2009-07-29 14:29

this was fascinating. I have a low volume-level tinnitus, and could hear nothing above 12kHz (which is better than I thought I'd do at age 63).

I'm interested, though, in the relationship (if any) between high frequency hearing capability versus listening accuracy. If I were a recording engineer, with the hearing handicap I have, I could let pass a recorded signal with serious high-frequency distortion and not be able to hear it; I wonder if high-frequency loss affects how well I can hear predominance of other frequencies in the mix.

Just wondering if anyone has a quick & dirty explanation for that, and as you see, I'm asking totally from ignorance.

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