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Test your hearing
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
[Note: These tests are not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. I just thought they would be neat to make.] :p
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.
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| Nautica |
Very interesting!
I could just about hear the fifth frequency and the pitch test it was the third pair.
I'm 28 btw. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| You're where I'm at on both of those, then. I am twenty-two. |
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| 3rd Signal |
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... |
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| dj_kane |
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. |
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| retiro |
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. |
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| Dj_Es-Dva |
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. |
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| Enigmatic XTC |
my speakers didnt play all of the first one
second test i noticed on the second group. the 8 cent difference |
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| 3rd Signal |
| 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? |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| I think he meant that his speakers didn't play all seven bursts in the first test. Could be wrong, though. |
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| dj_kane |
| did it again on my speakers and heard them all. :D |
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| staticblue |
first test: It seems like I can hear all the frequencies played :wtf:
second test: I noticed the pitch difference a tiny bit at the 3rd time, and distinctly at the 4th. |
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