Eh? Wassatt?

[folderol]

This site might be of interest to everyone 
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/hearing.html

For myself it's good news and bad news.

I set -54dB as my reference level. Quiet but well discernible over room background (using AKG K240 phones).

The good is that my hearing seems to have remained even - there is no detectable left-right shift.

The bad news is that although I can sense 16k when it's at 0dB. It's really as an unpleasant feeling not a sound as such. 12k comes in at -18 when it is positively hearable, but still an unpleasant sensation. 8k is -36 and probably the top of my useful range these days

Finally this page might be interesting:
http://www.roger-russell.com/hearing/hearing.htm

[Oren]

I'll have a go at this when there is time, Will. It seems worthy of some careful attention... Thanks!

[offthewall]

 
Interesting stuff.
I did this test expecting much worse results as I do have some hearing difficulties in certain situations.
For instance, I have extreme difficulty hearing anyone talking behind me. I also have extreme problems where there is much 'background' noise. If in company at any sort of social event I usually cannot make out a simple conversation over the general 'hubbub' going on around. Obviously these problems are negated by using headphones for the test.

I post the print-out for comparison with anyone else doing this.

I also thought it may be interesting to use this test as a measure of my headphones quality.
I went through each band reducing the levels until each was at the lowest I could discern.
I also attach this print-out.

Also, these tests were carried out using the standard in-built soundcard of the PC. My specialised audio card cannot easily be configured to carry sound from a browser.

 
James

[folderol]

Well, here's mine

Incidentally, there is a specific hearing problem that some people have and it's not necessarily age related. It is where the brain has difficulty separating 'noise' from 'information'. A friend of mine had this issue when only in his 30s and could never follow a conversation in a public place. He also had to have virtual silence if he needed to concentrate on anything.

[offthewall]

 

could never follow a conversation in a public place. He also had to have virtual silence if he needed to concentrate on anything

Yep,
that's me 

Interesting comparison of charts.
The main difference seems to be that I don't get the 12k at all but the 16k is no problem. There is a definite cut-out going on.

Do you find any value in the performance graph of the hardware?

 
James

[folderol]

I'm not really sure how that second one tests the hardware. Surely it's just measuring your threshold of hearing.

I was rather hoping other people on here would post graphs too so we could get a representative idea of what we are like as a group.

[SLD Music]

Here's mine, using Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones.

Didn't try to do minimum discernable levels. My office is just too noisy, and I didn't feel like turning off computers.