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Test your hearing

[Note: These tests are not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. I just thought they would be neat to make.]

Test One: Frequency Threshold

In the following test, seven bursts of noise are played, each (roughly) the same volume as the last. To test your ability to hear high frequencies, note the burst after which you can hear no more. Make sure you have your volume at a reasonable level before playing the test file, since you would not want to damage your hearing while trying to test it:

Frequency test

The first burst plays frequencies at 10,000 Hz and above. People middle-aged and younger without especially damaged or congenitally weak hearing can detect these frequencies.

The second burst plays frequencies at 12,000 Hz and above. Some middle-aged people are unable to hear frequencies around this level.

The third burst plays frequencies at 14,000 Hz and above. A number of middle-aged people cannot hear frequencies at or past this level.

The fourth burst plays frequencies at 16,000 Hz and above. Quite a few middle-aged people cannot hear these frequencies.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh bursts play, respectively, frequencies at 17,000 Hz, 18,000 Hz, and 19,000 Hz and above. Young children can often continue to hear frequencies at all these levels; the ability of older children and young (20-30) adults to hear them drops off as frequencies and ages increase.

"20-20," or 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, is often said to be the "perfect" range of human hearing.

An important thing to note before you run to the doctor and scream, "Help, my hearing's gone!" is that many types of headphones and speakers will not play frequencies above 16,000, 14,000 or even 12,000 Hz in some cases. So if you could hear stuff all the way to the end in this test, you probably have some decent audio equipment in addition to sensitive ears.

Test Two: Pitch Differentiation

In the following test, ten pairs of notes are played. The first note in each pair is always at a pitch of 440 Hz, while the second note is slightly lower in pitch than the first one. With each successive pair, the difference between the two tones increases slightly -- that is, the pitch of the second note in a pair will be lower than the pitch of the second note in the previous pair. To test your ability to tell the difference between two pitches, note the first pair where you can clearly tell that two notes of a pair are different:

Differentiation test

A "cent" is a very small musical interval -- 1/1200th of an octave. The difference within the first pair of notes is 4 cents; to be able to detect a difference smaller than 5 cents is a pretty rare ability.

The difference within the second pair of notes is 8 cents, and 12 cents within the third pair; a good number of people can distinguish between two pitches this far apart.

The difference within the fourth pair of notes is 16 cents, and 20 cents within the fifth pair; very few people fail to detect a difference around this range.

If you found that you could not detect a difference within any pair of notes at all by the end of this test, you probably should not be tuning any instruments.

Very interesting!

I could just about hear the fifth frequency and the pitch test it was the third pair.

I'm 28 btw.

You're where I'm at on both of those, then. I am twenty-two.

on the first test I could hear the 1st to 6th but I hardly heard the 6th...though could know it was there.

on the seconed test I didn't know what to do...

oh yea...and I'm 19...

first test 1 - 6 i heard

second test hadnt a clue what it was about heard some different pitches.

im 22.

im actually surprised i heard that high in the first test i thought my hearing had been seriously damaged due to djing.

26 years old.

Heard all seven frequences. I have a yearly hearing test due to my job. I am groundcrew in the Royal Air Force and I'm lucky enough to have me ears drowned with the sound of jet engines everyday!

Not sure what to do on the second test but, I could tell the difference towards the end.

17 and i could only hear up to the 6th on the first, but i have a feeling my headphones suck cause they were making a noise when the 7th was playing...

couldnt do the second one, im terrible at tuning and keying by ear.

my speakers didnt play all of the first one
second test i noticed on the second group. the 8 cent difference

quote:

Originally posted by Enigmatic XTC my speakers didnt play all of the first one second test i noticed on the second group. the 8 cent difference

how can you produce with speakers that don't play over 10khz?

I think he meant that his speakers didn't play all seven bursts in the first test. Could be wrong, though.

did it again on my speakers and heard them all.

first test: It seems like I can hear all the frequencies played

second test: I noticed the pitch difference a tiny bit at the 3rd time, and distinctly at the 4th.

I could hear all the frequencies sans the last one. However, I could not differentiate the 2 tones being played in the second test, not even the last loop of them.

What does that mean exactly?

I'm 22 but I do listen to music far to loud for my own good.

quote:

I could hear all the frequencies sans the last one. However, I could not differentiate the 2 tones being played in the second test, not even the last loop of them. What does that mean exactly?

It means you have either a rather poor sense of successive pitch or a really poor soundcard / speakers. Or maybe you were just playing the test file too softly.

Excellent test Thanks for posting mate.

First test i could hear all frequencies bar apart from the last one.

The second test, i could actually hear the difference in the first pair and a more noticeable difference in the second pair of tones.

first test i head 1-4 clearly and 5-6 at slightly higher volume, mind you my pc is too nosy and creates a lot of ambient noise

second test i could hear first pair but definitely not as clear as second

im 23.

frequency test:-
i could hear 1-6 (5 was significantly quieter than 4, and 6 was half my percieved volume that 5 was..)

did anyone else find this? or were they all pretty much the same percieved volume?

difference test:-

no difference between the first pair. but i could detect a slight difference in the second. as they progressed the difference was noticeable, but it was only by the fifth that i noticed any real change..

quote:

Originally posted by richg101 im 23. frequency test:- i could hear 1-6 (5 was significantly quieter than 4, and 6 was half my percieved volume that 5 was..) did anyone else find this? or were they all pretty much the same percieved volume? difference test:- no difference between the first pair. but i could detect a slight difference in the second. as they progressed the difference was noticeable, but it was only by the fifth that i noticed any real change..

i heard them all but as they progressed the volume was lower. dont no if that means im deafer or what.

I've had a sinus infection for months. And my ears are all fucked up. My right ear doesn't hear as well as my left. And i've been taking anti-biotics for a few days.

Thought I'd complain. This thread seem relevent enough to do that.

I'm out after 18k on the frequency threshold. I'm an average 20-year-old. \o/

Oddly enough, my speakers are at my production level, and some of the higher frequencies still kinda hurt. I guess they have more room to make the sounds louder in that test.

I could almost tell the difference between the second pair. It was very, very slight, and were it not a sine wave and were I not listening closely, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

I was actually told last year by one of my music teachers that most people can hear a differnce of 10c.

heard them all on my sennheiser's

quote:

Originally posted by thoughtlessjex I was actually told last year by one of my music teachers that most people can hear a differnce of 10c.

It's pretty highly dependent on the kind of sound you use, how close together you play the sounds, etc. In fact, if you play the sounds right on top of one another, many people can hear really tiny differences (even one cent) because the two waves will seem to "beat" against one another.

Interesting. At first I couldn't even hear the 16 kHz sample, then I realized it was probably my crappy speakers and plugged in my monitor headphones and could hear it up to 19 kHz (had to turn the volume way up and it was more like static plus a headache - to be conservative I'd say I'm probably limited at around 18.5.

Second sample I could hear the difference on the first set. The second sine was a few cents lower than the first. But then I played the oboe (hence tuned the whole orchestra) for many years so the sensitivity was probably acquired over time.

I could hear 1 through 6... I put the file in cool edit to analyze it... there seems to be no 7th tone... at least it didn't show as a wave inside of all the ambient noises and cracks. One should be able to, as in all of the other clusters or bursts, spot or isolate the sinus that generates the tone for the test but it isn't there.... Intentional?? don't know. Don't belive me... Check it out for yourself.... As for all of you wondering about the level. 1 to 6 are all the same but number 7 is at about 60% of that

I heard difference at the second pair of notes...

I'm 35.... and dead...

The ghost of Mozart

What's the point???

Really I don't get it....

Chatrine

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