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Beta Test: Earful -- a hearing test App

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pkane

pkane

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Hello :)

I'm a 41 yo man who is hard of hearing from birth. See my pro curves:

View attachment 248553

I've tried Earful in order to make a Hi-Res audiogramme for test and seems to be quiet different :
( I have to say I don't really understood how to calibrate the hardware :rolleyes: )

Right
View attachment 248554

Left
View attachment 248555

There is a bug about simultaneous curves display:

Right mode data set 1:
View attachment 248557

Left data set 1:
View attachment 248559

I made this test with windows 11 laptop, Fiio Q3 DAC/AMP, IEMs ER2SE Studio, 3.5mm asymetric output and custom tips.

Can someone please explain me how I have to do in order to calibrate the hardware ? I have a tiny brain...

In order to calibrate the hardware, you'll need to use a calibration curve created specifically for it, usually measured on some standardized equipment. It may still not match your audiology exam results, since we don't know what curve was used to calibrate that device. In general, it's nearly impossible to compare results produced using calibration curves created using different calibration devices, as each device has a different response target. The best you can do is compare two results from the same equipment with the same calibration curve. Some standardized calibration curves exist, for example, here: https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq/tree/master/measurements

But these are, again, not something you could compare directly to your audiology exam, since that was using a different calibration hardware.

Without a hardware calibration, Earful gives you is the actual audibility thresholds with the IEMs you are using in combination with your hearing. In other words, what you are likely to be able to hear when using these IEMs when playing music or listening to voice.
 

shogo

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How to use it step by step? I thought u can at 1st make full range curve (like 20-20k in 20 steps), then choose small ranges there like 3-5khz, then 5-8khz etc for piece by piece adjust that whole curve . But when im trying it, previous setup gets erased. How to keep progress?
 
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pkane

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How to use it step by step? I thought u can at 1st make full range curve (like 20-20k in 20 steps), then choose small ranges there like 3-5khz, then 5-8khz etc for piece by piece adjust that whole curve . But when im trying it, previous setup gets erased. How to keep progress?

I'm not sure what you mean by the previous setup gets erased. If you pause the playback, then restart again, nothing gets erased. You don't need to narrow down the bandwidth of the measurement to zoom in on a specific frequency range, just specify a good number of steps at the start. You don't need to measure every single frequency all at once, you can come back and re-measure previous frequencies, as well as, those you skipped, later. To restore a curve you were working on in a previous session, save this one to a file, then reload on start.
 

Hugo9000

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I tested myself again for the first time in 2 1/2 years, and I was delighted to find no significant changes. A few slight differences at a few frequencies, within a dB or so either way, which could simply be due to earpad differences. I can still hear the 16061 Hz tone, at -26.5 dBFS. In July of 2021, my threshold was -24 dBFS.

In 2021, I was probably listening to music 50/50 headphones/speakers. Since then, I've used headphones more frequently (probably 75/25 headphones/speakers now), and I sometimes worried a bit whether that was harmful for me, but it would seem not to be, at least at my playback levels.

There is a point for me where playback gets extra "exciting" and then just slightly beyond that, while it's even more thrilling, anxiety over whether I'm pushing my speakers or risking my hearing outweighs the positive excitement and I turn it down. With headphones, I don't get anxiety about the listening gear, just about my hearing, and although it seems like it's subjectively a similar loudness threshold, it's probably lower due to the proximity of headphones and psychological factors such as reading about so many people who have damaged their hearing with headphones. It always seems like it's industrial noise or rock concerts (or playing an instrument in an orchestra), or headphone abuse that people report as causes of their hearing loss. So I'm probably more mindful even at a subconscious level with headphones.

Anyway, thanks again @pkane for providing such a great tool for home testing of hearing over time! So easy to use, I'll have to remember to make a practice of checking more regularly going forward! :)

(I'm in my "mid 50s" now haha)
 
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pkane

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I tested myself again for the first time in 2 1/2 years, and I was delighted to find no significant changes. A few slight differences at a few frequencies, within a dB or so either way, which could simply be due to earpad differences. I can still hear the 16061 Hz tone, at -26.5 dBFS. In July of 2021, my threshold was -24 dBFS.

In 2021, I was probably listening to music 50/50 headphones/speakers. Since then, I've used headphones more frequently (probably 75/25 headphones/speakers now), and I sometimes worried a bit whether that was harmful for me, but it would seem not to be, at least at my playback levels.

There is a point for me where playback gets extra "exciting" and then just slightly beyond that, while it's even more thrilling, anxiety over whether I'm pushing my speakers or risking my hearing outweighs the positive excitement and I turn it down. With headphones, I don't get anxiety about the listening gear, just about my hearing, and although it seems like it's subjectively a similar loudness threshold, it's probably lower due to the proximity of headphones and psychological factors such as reading about so many people who have damaged their hearing with headphones. It always seems like it's industrial noise or rock concerts (or playing an instrument in an orchestra), or headphone abuse that people report as causes of their hearing loss. So I'm probably more mindful even at a subconscious level with headphones.

Anyway, thanks again @pkane for providing such a great tool for home testing of hearing over time! So easy to use, I'll have to remember to make a practice of checking more regularly going forward! :)

(I'm in my "mid 50s" now haha)

Awesome! Just what I thought Earful would be useful for ;)

Interestingly, others have come up with new and impressive ways to use the tool that I didn't even think about:

https://sourceforge.net/p/mesh2hrtf-tools/wiki/Earful_tutorial/

Regards,

-Paul
 

Manukatche

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Hello :)

I post again in order to thank you P.Kane, your software is very helpfull. With that, I'm able to set accurately my earing aid prototype, no matter wiches IEMs I use.
Don't be afraid by my curves, I'm hard of hearing.
ER2SE Droit Et Gauche.png
 

Spyart

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Awesome! Just what I thought Earful would be useful for ;)

Interestingly, others have come up with new and impressive ways to use the tool that I didn't even think about:

https://sourceforge.net/p/mesh2hrtf-tools/wiki/Earful_tutorial/

Regards,

-Paul
Hi! Could you consider to add uncorrelated pink noise (in other words out of phase) to the test signals section? I think it's can be very useful with experimenting of HRTF fine tuning. At least for me it could be very very helpful :) cheers
 

LakeWorthB

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Hello, I am trying out Earful, as it looks useful, but I am stuck on first step. I can't get any sound out of it. I started app, and selected "Equal Loudness", and changed output to "[DS] Headphones (Reatek)... 48000/32" and moved the frequencies around, and nothing. I also changed system volume, and Start Vol. What am I missing?
 
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pkane

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Hello, I am trying out Earful, as it looks useful, but I am stuck on first step. I can't get any sound out of it. I started app, and selected "Equal Loudness", and changed output to "[DS] Headphones (Reatek)... 48000/32" and moved the frequencies around, and nothing. I also changed system volume, and Start Vol. What am I missing?
Hi,

First, are you trying to measure equal loudness or threshold of hearing? For equal loudness, you need to set the reference tone level to something easily audible -- that's the level that you'll try to equalize all the frequencies to. Here are some instructions:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...t-earful-a-hearing-test-app.14863/post-616449

You'll need to press Play button to start the process, and for each frequency, adjust the level up until the test tone sounds to be at the same level as the reference tone. Note that there are some frequencies you may not be able to hear without a huge boost in level, say 20Hz or 20kHz. Don't try to boost these too loud, as you can damage your hearing and/or equipment without realizing it.
 

LakeWorthB

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Hi,

First, are you trying to measure equal loudness or threshold of hearing? For equal loudness, you need to set the reference tone level to something easily audible -- that's the level that you'll try to equalize all the frequencies to. Here are some instructions:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...t-earful-a-hearing-test-app.14863/post-616449

You'll need to press Play button to start the process, and for each frequency, adjust the level up until the test tone sounds to be at the same level as the reference tone. Note that there are some frequencies you may not be able to hear without a huge boost in level, say 20Hz or 20kHz. Don't try to boost these too loud, as you can damage your hearing and/or equipment without realizing it.
Thanks, I got it to work. I had to select the correct ASIO driver, and it seems there is a 5 second or so delay, after choosing it, so that was what was throwing me off.

For the Phone EQ feature, what is the format of this file? It says csv, but what are the fields?
 
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pkane

pkane

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