Forum Hearing Test! Online Audiogram

There's been a fair bit of talk recently about the quality of one's gear and how that dictates the accuracy of sound reviews, there's also been talk of objective tests not being useful when it comes to audio, etc. I thought it would be interesting for as many of us as possible to participate in this online hearing test so that we can figure out the average hearing ability of the forum.

In order to get accurate results, you need to use a pair of headphones that reproduce all frequencies consistently between the lower and upper limits, without a dip or peak in a particular frequency range, according to your particular hearing curve. The headphones themselves don't need to be flat, but your ears need to perceive them as flat. In order to find out if this is the case, visit the following link and scroll down to Spectral Flatness and Earbud Insert Test: The Ultimate Headphones Test ». I used my AKG K550.

Once you've confirmed that your headphones sound flat, head on over to the Online Hearing Test and Audiogram and complete the test. Read the instructions, the whole thing should take less than ten minutes. I've decided to take regular tests (I play in a band) and keep a log, marking my average score each time (a score of zero is the best, i.e. "normal hearing"). I've attached my audiogram below. My average score today was 7 dBHL. Please fill in the poll with your average score! I hope this will be fun and give us some perspective on the human limitations on our way to sonic nirvana

 

20 for me Robert, Early 40's, I couldn't hear a thing on the top two lines

 

Not brave enough to try this, as I know exactly how bad my proper audiologist performed audiogram is! Fortunately, I can still enjoy my music as long as I keep the volume under control.

 

Thanks for participating!

Of course, we can still enjoy the music One thing that would be particularly useful from a pro audiogram might be that it could aid in picking speakers or doing room corrections to match one's own frequency curve

 

Here are my results. 49 years old. Audio-Technica ATH-M40x headphones.



I'm not sure about my average score, though (I think it's 6.66).

 

I pledge to do this when I'm in, ahem, proper form.

Holiday weekend of gratitude, respect and honor here in the States.

And bourbon.

.

 

I wish the calibration procedure for the hearing test had an option to calibrate the volume level for the headphones using an SPL meter. Using an SPL meter would be far more reliable and consistent and repeatable for setting the volume than relying on trying to match the volume level by ear based on the sound level of rubbing your hands together in front of your nose.

I know most people don't have an SPL meter. But some of us do. You can get them for $50 to $75. You can even rig something up using many smart phones to do SPL measurements.

I tried setting the level based on rubbing my hands together and I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to get a result that I would consider correct or consistent. If I did the same calibration a week from now I know I'd get a different result.

 

Avg. 11.6 at age 53. Nice to see I'm generally in the normal range, I thought it would be worse after some of the concert volumes I've been exposed to.

 

I'm not going to do it this evening but I want to participate. I've no illusions at my age (66) about my hearing abilities though I still try to pursue the best mastering of older material and certainly notice the impact of loud mastering on newer material. My system is also very much simpler at this time than it ever has been. I think probably some of the beautiful subtleties of music may now be lost to me from my hearing.

 

Scored a 5. Not bad for a 43 year old. Though this is probably not very accurate at all. Anyone here should be able to go get a standard audiogram done every year and get it covered by their insurance. If you live near a medical school or a school with a good Audiology program you might be able to volunteer for high frequency audiometry testing which is pretty cool. Those can usually test up to 16k or 18k. I've done it a couple of times for friends. It really puts all the talk about frequency response in perspective. Makes you really wonder about things like super tweeters and all those crazy extended frequencies we talk about in this hobby.

 

Mind you, I was using Urbanears that I use for my lp transfers

 

Are you supposed to have the headphones on your ears or not when you rub your hands in front of your nose?

 

Anybody of a certain age who may be feeling pressured, you have protection against discrimination if you're in the UK under The 2010 Equality Act. "What's the point you'll be deaf" is often thrown at the Grey Panthers. My friend's response to all those elderly killjoys is to ask them if they think they could tell the difference between a band or their stereo in the front room. However if they're correct you could go on all those Sager cruises, meeting elderly divorced sqillianaires.

 

Awesome! Did the headphones pass the Spectral Flatness test for you? Their frequency response graph isn't dissimilar to your results.

You can do that, see here. It's a different test but uses the same calibration method: "You are now generating a reference sound that is approximately 65 dBSPL".

Not.

 

Here is mine (~4 average) :

 

Heard all the lowest tones at 5, heard the 4kHz tone at 7, but didn't hear the 8 kHz tone until 20, for an average score I think of just under 8...... When I ran the sweeps to test the headphone response hearing seemed fine from 20kHz to 15kHz, didn't hear any tones above 15k, but those are at a much higher level than the audiogram tests I ran which were low level and based on just-noticeable level......I guess I've got outstanding to normal hearing up through around 4kHz and moderate hearing loss above that but still reasonable hearing up to 15kHz....probably not atypical for a 52-year-old male. Used AT IM02 in ears and a laptop driving a FIIO 3X 2nd gen as a DAC.

 

Yes, they did. Actually, that's why I chose the M40x when I was shopping for some good headphones. The M50x were the top of the line when I bought the headphones, but they are slightly bass-heavier. After listening to many comparisons of all the headphones in the Mxxx line of headphones by Audio-Technica, I felt the M40x are the ones with the flattest response. I'm very happy with them.

 

FWIW, here's my audiogram

 

Thanks for contributing everyone!

 

So with the calibration, if you match the sound coming out of your speakers to the sound of your hands rubbing in front of your nose, how then can you know the sound from the headphones is at the correct loudness? It seems you are calibrating the speakers, not the headphones!

 

Here's mine:

 

2 years ago (at 52) I took an audiogram and I had mild hearing loss starting at 4 Khz and up. Won't take another one and keep on rocking. Life's too short.

 

You've misinterpreted the instructions it would seem

 

I took it. Looks like my last one about 12 years ago. Nice classic dip from 2k - 8k. Oh well. But at least I'm nice in the middle of human voice range. There won't be any "EH?" from this grandpa.

 

Some info from Johns Hopkins:

Understanding Your Audiogram »