Interested in finding out how sensitive your hearing is at different frequencies? If so, try this website from the Physics Department of the University of New South Wales: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/hearing.html
(now added to the Links section under "Tutorials", for want of a more suitable category)
Be careful not to torture pets or children by testing the high frequency sounds at high volume. I can't hear the 16kHz frequency at all, but my boys complained loudly from the next room when I tried it at high volume. We haven't seen a kangaroo or possum since.
Happy listening.
Apparently there's a company that markets special high-frequency cell-phone ringtones to kids--so their parents can't tell when the kid is getting a call or text message.
Interesting website. I've just been playing around with it using my best 'phones (Sony Digital Reference MDR CD470), even if they're a bit ancient. As I suspected beforehand, I can't hear the 12kHz frequency at all - which is no more than what I would expect at my time of life - but I can hear the 8kHz reasonably well, so I'd hazard a guess that my cut-off may be somewhere in the region of 10kHz.
Conclusions I can draw from this experiment are that I don't need to spend a lot of money on the ultimate in sound reproduction systems, not that I ever have, or indeed am allowed to , and that when backing up WAV files onto my hard drive or cd/dvd for my personal use I can halve the storage space needed by using the 22kHz sample rate instead of 44kHz. A decent signal/noise ratio in my audible range is far more useful than frequencies I cannot hear.
BTW, for general interest, 8kHz is about an octave higher than the top note on a concert piano.
Many thanks, Graeme, for drawing our attention to this UNSW website.
I can still hear 16kHz -- even down to -24db (and this with the AC on and using crappy airline headphones -- they were Aerlingus ones though). Strange.
Just to give this thread a tenuous link with ITM:
Do you know the Irish word for deaf, and which instrument used in ITM has its name derived from that word. 10 points for the first correct answer (less 5 for spelling error/s).
A year or so ago, having failed conspicuously to get rid of mice using traditional traps (they just laughed at them and contrived to spring the traps and remove the bait without getting caught) - and I wouldn't use poison - so I found an anti-mice ultrasound device in a hardware shop. It plugs into an electrical wall socket and emits a sound in the region of 60KHz which sees off the little fellas immediately. They haven't been back since.
An ceart in iomlan agat, a bhlais. 10 points. Bodhar or deaf because the sound of the bodhran is muffled or not sharp (particularly the sound the fingers make on the goatskin, not the cipin on the side or rim). Prize Catalogue will be coming out soon. Minimum eligible points, 1000.
Well, I'm not that far off the half century and I can still hear 16KHz (at -12dB). Perhaps this explains why the tone of my fiddle sounds far too bright to my ears (painfully so), but seems acceptible to others...
Oh well, maybe I'll have to wait a decade or so until I can stand the racket I make with the bloody thing
Interesting site, but, as the instructions say, it’s really only good for comparing your two ears or detecting relative change over time. To get meaningful data on your current hearing, you would have to have special headphones with a very flat frequency response, and the headphones and sound card would have to be calibrated to the test tones.
Since I had a hearing test just a few weeks ago, I have some fairly good reference data and I plan to use this test to track changes.
Test your hearing online
Test your hearing online
Interested in finding out how sensitive your hearing is at different frequencies? If so, try this website from the Physics Department of the University of New South Wales:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/hearing.html
(now added to the Links section under "Tutorials", for want of a more suitable category)
Be careful not to torture pets or children by testing the high frequency sounds at high volume. I can't hear the 16kHz frequency at all, but my boys complained loudly from the next room when I tried it at high volume. We haven't seen a kangaroo or possum since.
Happy listening.
# Posted on July 9th 2006 by GraemeO
Re: Test your hearing online
Wonderful news Graeme, thanks - I'm off to try this immediately. Those bloody kangaroos & possums are just drivin' me nuts, up here in North Antrim!
# Posted on July 9th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Test your hearing online
A bit off-topic, but interesting....
Apparently there's a company that markets special high-frequency cell-phone ringtones to kids--so their parents can't tell when the kid is getting a call or text message.
# Posted on July 9th 2006 by John Galt
Re: Test your hearing online
Interesting website. I've just been playing around with it using my best 'phones (Sony Digital Reference MDR CD470), even if they're a bit ancient. As I suspected beforehand, I can't hear the 12kHz frequency at all - which is no more than what I would expect at my time of life - but I can hear the 8kHz reasonably well, so I'd hazard a guess that my cut-off may be somewhere in the region of 10kHz.
, and that when backing up WAV files onto my hard drive or cd/dvd for my personal use I can halve the storage space needed by using the 22kHz sample rate instead of 44kHz. A decent signal/noise ratio in my audible range is far more useful than frequencies I cannot hear.
Conclusions I can draw from this experiment are that I don't need to spend a lot of money on the ultimate in sound reproduction systems, not that I ever have, or indeed am allowed to
BTW, for general interest, 8kHz is about an octave higher than the top note on a concert piano.
Many thanks, Graeme, for drawing our attention to this UNSW website.
# Posted on July 9th 2006 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Test your hearing online
A great resource - I've just used it to calibrate my bat detector, too!
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by Wurzel
Re: Test your hearing online
Is this like a thing of telling you if your getting old...........???
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by Sarfly
Re: Test your hearing online
I'll pretend I didn't hear that.
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by frozenstiff
Re: Test your hearing online
I can still hear 16kHz -- even down to -24db (and this with the AC on and using crappy airline headphones -- they were Aerlingus ones though). Strange.
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by Crysania
Re: Test your hearing online
What?
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by Bob himself
Re: Test your hearing online
Just to give this thread a tenuous link with ITM:
Do you know the Irish word for deaf, and which instrument used in ITM has its name derived from that word. 10 points for the first correct answer (less 5 for spelling error/s).
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by frozenstiff
Re: Test your hearing online
I know, I know , I know the answer!!!!!!!!!!
Its the BODHRÁN !!!!!!!
Bodhar, is deaf in Irish, so a Bodhrán is a deafener.
Am I right?
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by blas
Re: Test your hearing online
Ha Ha! I never thought I'd ever hear anyone say that the Bodhran was the answer!
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: Test your hearing online
I can see the smile spreading across Mr Gill's face.
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Test your hearing online
A year or so ago, having failed conspicuously to get rid of mice using traditional traps (they just laughed at them and contrived to spring the traps and remove the bait without getting caught) - and I wouldn't use poison - so I found an anti-mice ultrasound device in a hardware shop. It plugs into an electrical wall socket and emits a sound in the region of 60KHz which sees off the little fellas immediately. They haven't been back since.
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Test your hearing online
An ceart in iomlan agat, a bhlais. 10 points. Bodhar or deaf because the sound of the bodhran is muffled or not sharp (particularly the sound the fingers make on the goatskin, not the cipin on the side or rim). Prize Catalogue will be coming out soon. Minimum eligible points, 1000.
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by frozenstiff
Re: Test your hearing online
Thanks, GraemeO,
This is an interesting site.
That I can still hear the 16kHz at my age (nearing 40!) is a good thing.
# Posted on July 10th 2006 by KeepFiddlin'
Re: Test your hearing online
Well, I'm not that far off the half century and I can still hear 16KHz (at -12dB). Perhaps this explains why the tone of my fiddle sounds far too bright to my ears (painfully so), but seems acceptible to others...
Oh well, maybe I'll have to wait a decade or so until I can stand the racket I make with the bloody thing
# Posted on July 11th 2006 by Ron P
Re: Test your hearing online
Interesting site, but, as the instructions say, it’s really only good for comparing your two ears or detecting relative change over time. To get meaningful data on your current hearing, you would have to have special headphones with a very flat frequency response, and the headphones and sound card would have to be calibrated to the test tones.
Since I had a hearing test just a few weeks ago, I have some fairly good reference data and I plan to use this test to track changes.
# Posted on July 11th 2006 by Bob himself