Big surprise for me. Age related hearing loss.

[2Sunny]

I always tested above average for hearing as a young man so imagine my surprise when I went to the website below and heard nothing. I posted this in my Mind Blown thread as well, but it has made me realize I need to visit an ear doctor to see if hearing aids would be recommended for me or if it's just part of normal aging so I thought it deserved it's own post. Anyways here's what I learned today:

. . . I visited the website below and heard absolutely zilch. Looks like I'm unable to hear sounds above 8 kHz or so AND it turns out that's probably true for the majority of us old fogys. Looks like time to visit the ear doc and see about hearing aides

I asked chatgpt: " Can you estimate the percentage of folks over 50 who can no longer hear frequencies above 10 kHz?" and this was the answer

Yes — estimating the percentage of adults over 50 who can no longer hear frequencies above 10 kHz falls within well-studied territory.

Estimated Percentage:

• Roughly 60–80% of people over 50 have a noticeable reduction or complete loss of hearing sensitivity above 10,000 Hz (10 kHz).

Why?

• Presbycusis (age-related hearing loss) starts in the high frequencies, typically above 8 kHz, and worsens with age.
• Even by age 40–50, many adults begin to lose the ability to hear above 12 kHz.
• By age 60, the upper hearing limit often drops to 8–10 kHz, even for people without noticeable hearing "problems."

Supporting Evidence:

• Standard audiograms for aging populations show the average upper hearing limit:
  • ~12 kHz for people in their 30s.
  • ~10–11 kHz by their 40s.
  • ~8–10 kHz or lower by their 50s and 60s.
• Some individuals over 50 may still hear slightly above 10 kHz, but most will have a steep drop-off.

Bottom Line:

If you're estimating how many people over 50 cannot hear above 10 kHz, a safe and realistic figure is:

About 70% (±10%) of adults over 50 have limited or no perception of sounds above 10 kHz.

This should be factored in for any application involving audio design, alarms, or communication systems targeting older adults.

 

[watchnerd]

I'm a bit surprised you're surprised, TBH.

I think I knew 8 years ago, when I had some tubes inserted, I had lost the top octave.

 

[DVDdoug]

Yeah, sad... I really don't want to know. I'm old and I know I've got some high-frequency loss but I still enjoy music.

but it has made me realize I need to visit an ear doctor to see if hearing aids would be recommended for me

From what I've read, hearing aids are mostly to improve the hearing of speech. A regular audiogram only goes up to around 8kHz. But some hearing aids have a "music" setting.

...It's kinda' funny to me that most "Golden Ear Audiophiles" and high-end reviewers seem to be old guys.

I remember when Neil Young was promoting high resolution audio. Even most young rockers have hearing loss, especially in the high frequencies.

 

[2Sunny]

I'm a bit surprised you're surprised, TBH.

I think I knew 8 years ago, when I had some tubes inserted, I had lost the top octave.

I only just joined AVR a couple months ago, and I had my hearing tested for work every 6 months and docs never said boo since the higher frequencies obviously are not important for normal day to day hearing, but given that REW sweeps everyone here uses include 20 kHz or higher data and Google says humans can hear that range, I was just surprised that older individuals generally do NOT have that same range of hearing. I get that folks that have been active in this hobby for a long time may not be surprised by this fact, but I was.

 

[Palmspar]

I can still hear a 16 hz sine wave, therefore investing in the low end with good subs seems better to me than 40000hz diamond tweeters.

 

[respice finem]

An even easier way to test oneself - first set the volume to a "sane" level at 1 to 3 kHz, then move the slider up

Online Tone Generator - generate pure tones of any frequency

www.szynalski.com

 

[diablo]

An even easier way to test oneself - first set the volume to a "sane" level at 1 to 3 kHz, then move the slider up

Online Tone Generator - generate pure tones of any frequency

www.szynalski.com

That works fine. Playing it through my stereo agrees with other tests that my hearing starts tailing off at about 7kHz, can still just about hear 8.2 kHz. I'm 73 so maybe not too bad I suppose.

About ten years ago I tried similar and the upper limit was around 13-14 kHz, which was probably excellent for my age then. But a few years back I started to notice that if I was watching a nature documentary talking about the sound of an insect that I couldn't hear anything at all from the critter !

Doesn't seem to affect my appreciation of music though.

 

[respice finem]

I am slowly becoming "cemetery blond" (approaching 58) and losing about 1 kHz every 2 years. Such is life...
Hardly noticing it with music, because the brain adapts to the situation probably.

BTW: the linked generator is quite handy to quick-testing comb filtering - just set a frequency and move your head.

 

[respice finem]

I always tested above average for hearing as a young man so imagine my surprise when I went to the website below and heard nothing. I posted this in my Mind Blown thread as well, but it has made me realize I need to visit an ear doctor to see if hearing aids would be recommended for me or if it's just part of normal aging so I thought it deserved it's own post. Anyways here's what I learned today:

. . . I visited the website below and heard absolutely zilch. Looks like I'm unable to hear sounds above 8 kHz or so AND it turns out that's probably true for the majority of us old fogys. Looks like time to visit the ear doc and see about hearing aides

I asked chatgpt: " Can you estimate the percentage of folks over 50 who can no longer hear frequencies above 10 kHz?" and this was the answer

Yes — estimating the percentage of adults over 50 who can no longer hear frequencies above 10 kHz falls within well-studied territory.

Estimated Percentage:

• Roughly 60–80% of people over 50 have a noticeable reduction or complete loss of hearing sensitivity above 10,000 Hz (10 kHz).

Why?

• Presbycusis (age-related hearing loss) starts in the high frequencies, typically above 8 kHz, and worsens with age.
• Even by age 40–50, many adults begin to lose the ability to hear above 12 kHz.
• By age 60, the upper hearing limit often drops to 8–10 kHz, even for people without noticeable hearing "problems."

Supporting Evidence:

• Standard audiograms for aging populations show the average upper hearing limit:
  • ~12 kHz for people in their 30s.
  • ~10–11 kHz by their 40s.
  • ~8–10 kHz or lower by their 50s and 60s.
• Some individuals over 50 may still hear slightly above 10 kHz, but most will have a steep drop-off.

Bottom Line:

If you're estimating how many people over 50 cannot hear above 10 kHz, a safe and realistic figure is:





This should be factored in for any application involving audio design, alarms, or communication systems targeting older adults.

Presbyacusis does not automatically mean you need hearing aids. But an audiometry is a good idea. BTW, "classic" audiometry only goes up to 8 kHz.

 

[watchnerd]

I only just joined AVR a couple months ago, and I had my hearing tested for work every 6 months and docs never said boo since the higher frequencies obviously are not important for normal day to day hearing, but given that REW sweeps everyone here uses include 20 kHz or higher data and Google says humans can hear that range, I was just surprised that older individuals generally do NOT have that same range of hearing. I get that folks that have been active in this hobby for a long time may not be surprised by this fact, but I was.

Child humans are pretty good up to 20 khz.

I saw some wag post on a forum that he likes to show up at audiophile events and play a 17 khz tone from his phone and see if anyone notices.

 

[NTK]

I am giving a plug for @pkane's Earful app. Sorry, I think he only made a Windows version.

Earful - Audiophile Hearing Test App | Distort documentation

Earful v1.0 is the initial beta release of this software. Use at your own risk!

distortaudio.org

 

[Arindal]

Standard audiograms for aging populations show the average upper hearing limit:

• ~12 kHz for people in their 30s.
• ~10–11 kHz by their 40s.

Not sure where this information is originating from, but it sounds pretty alarming to me and indicative of massive hearing damage in these demographic groups. I fall into the latter and can hear 15kHz without a hint of reduced sensitivity, above 15.5k have to increasingly crank up the level to clearly hear the tone. 17k is kind of the limit. Have to remark that I have never in my life exposed my ears to club or rock concert SPL without protection.