Who can hear above 20Khz?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Thermionic Vinyl, Dec 5, 2015.

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  1. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Say hello to deafness!
     
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  2. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Oh gawd!
     
  3. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Oh geez!
     
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  4. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    I can turn the volume up to eleven, (although I never do), so does that count for anything?

    I can also hear hiss on a Steve Hoffman mastering, without turning the volume up too loud, does that count for anything?
     
  5. Mal

    Mal Phorum Physicist

    :wave:
     
  6. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    As a violinist, do you lose hearing in your left ear more than your right due to the left ear being so close to the violin? A violin can play loud.
     
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  7. Chooke

    Chooke Forum Resident

    Location:
    Perth, Australia
    Lol, that's a bit like being fried by X-rays in outer space to show that some humans can perceive ultra violet light.
     
  8. Fiddlefye

    Fiddlefye Forum Resident

    Yes, a violin can most certainly play loudly! On the other hand a well-designed instrument projects a pattern that is very much away from the player. With my current violin it always amazes me when I hear recordings done in a hall just how loud it is in the room relative to what I hear under my ear. I did a gig with pipe organ and operatic soprano a couple of weeks ago and we recorded it just to hear the balance as where we were placed it was hard to determine. I wasn't working all that hard at it, but it turned out I was running over them both and needed to back off a bit. From my perspective I had no indication whatsoever.

    For note-learning and technical practice I have long used what is called a "practice mute" (big, heavy brass thing) that absorbs almost all vibration, not quite to the "silent violin" level, but not so far off. It not only saves the family listening to the drudge work, but takes no toll on my ears as well.

    To answer the original question, my left ear is actually slightly more acute than the right, though I cannot speak for other violinists.
     
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  9. Tamla Junkie

    Tamla Junkie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    Had my hearing tested at work for ****s and giggles. I'm only 22 and can't hear anything above 12 kHz. :shake:
     
  10. russk

    russk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Don't feel bad. That's not actually surprising for your age range and generation. Hearing loss is becoming more prevalent in millennials and down than it was in previous generations. Personal electronics i.e. headphones/earbuds and diet are the likely culprits.
     
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  11. Tamla Junkie

    Tamla Junkie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    Im a medical physicist, and I spend a lot of time around extremely loud MRI machines and pther imaging devices (prototypes and experimental machines, not polished commercial stuff from say Siemens). I'm positive a lot of the loss is work related.
     
  12. jupiterboy

    jupiterboy Forum Residue

    Location:
    Buffalo, NY
    Don't pay for speakers with a super tweeter.
     
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  13. Ntotrar

    Ntotrar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tri-Cities TN
    Time to specialize in full range loudspeakers! Lowthers, Fostex and the like. Most of the music is in the mid range anyway.
     
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  14. Tamla Junkie

    Tamla Junkie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    I guess my Quads are totally adequte now...
     
  15. gslasor

    gslasor Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    22, good to 18k. Frankly a bit surprised given my normal listening volume and amount of unprotected metal concerts I've attended.
     
  16. basie-fan

    basie-fan Forum Resident

    True. String and wind instruments don't produce significant harmonics above 12 kHz, so what you're missing is just the upper harmonics of cymbals mostly.
     
  17. Bingo Bongo

    Bingo Bongo Music gives me Eargasms

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2017
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  18. Chooke

    Chooke Forum Resident

    Location:
    Perth, Australia
    For a good test pick up a dog whistle. The frequency of the whistle is typically around 21 to 22 kHz.
     
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  19. JBStephens

    JBStephens I don't "like", "share", "tweet", or CARE. In Memoriam

    Location:
    South Mountain, NC
    And WHUMP-mobiles, which seem to be an exclusively young-male phenomenon.
     
  20. TheRavenPoe

    TheRavenPoe Forum Resident

    15.6 is max without a headset and I'm not sure of the individual ears. An explosion perfed my right ear drum in 04 and I feel like that's the side I always get the tinnitus ringing in. The audio has stopped playing and I feel like I still hear it, lol.
     
  21. Chupacabra

    Chupacabra Active Member

    Location:
    Philadelphia
    Fortunately that's right around where I'm at. Knew there was a reason I liked full range drivers so much.
     
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  22. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    I cannot hear above 20khz nor see 20/20. It's just a bad number for me in general.
     
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  23. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    Basie-fan is right, at about 12kHz to 13 kHz the percussive instruments and perhaps a little of the brass instruments are at about their limit for their timbre and tonal quality. The human voice is at about 10 kHz for quality, at about 4kHz for intelligibility of speech. (perhaps 12 kHz for a soprano's vocal quality... maybe a few beyond that too) The triangle goes to 20 kHz and beyond. Music most generally does not extend beyond 16 kHz... just a little harmonic content above 16 kHz, sensed and appreciated by young ears, but not missed when it's gone. (not much there)

    In reproduced music, the chances of any waveform displaying 20 kHz and above will be mostly distortion artifacts from the playback equipment. (or recording)

    I have found it fascinating. that in a hearing test my ears are good to just over 13 kHz, however still able to sense the air in music that extends beyond my upper limit. Maybe it's just the ease by which the music I do hear is being perceived, or something else. I have read that the ears do sense sound pressure. However I wonder if these out of range frequencies are sensed only within the context of other frequencies within hearing range? ... if that makes any sense? This would be an interesting test.
     
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  24. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    What about TV picture quality.
    Oled
    4K
    HD.

    All the same, a blur.
    Hearing might be gone, but what about your eyes ?
     
  25. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    Correction: :doh:
    Percussion frequency limit is specific to the instrument, cymbals to 20 kHz, and can go higher, but most of its harmonic character 16 kHz and below.
    A snare drum also is very wide range to 20 kHz, but also most of its sonic signature below 16 kHz.
    A timpani maybe to 6kHz, (estimated) a floor tom about the same... although the attack from a stick may be to 10 kHz.
    A full symphony orchestra, I would say 95% or more of its total bandwidth is within 30 to 16 kHz. For ears up to 12 kHz, perhaps this person hears about 90% of the music young ears do with a range to 20 kHz, (unless we are listening to bats, cymbals and triangles) and hearing also differs according to hearing sensitivity, not just frequency range.

    These are estimates and in part according to my "acoustic memory" of what music sounded like when I was 16.
    A Telecaster played through a Princeton Reverb sounds exactly the same as always, since its frequency range does not extend much beyond 8 kHz

    :disgust: .... amended 'cause my previous comment about percussion was vague, and really not accurate.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
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