Big surprise for me. Age related hearing loss.

[Ogoript]

50s and I top out just above 13k

quite a bit down from even 5-6 years ago

Pretty much the same for me. 55 years old and hit 13,400

 

[Chromatischism]

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

Plug one ear with a finger and it will be really obvious as you move your head.

I have to do this to catch 18 kHz near-field from the tweeter. I suggest people do this if using speakers because it may not be your hearing, just the position causing these frequencies to elude you. Of course you should just use headphones.

 

[respice finem]

Plug one ear with a finger and it will be really obvious as you move your head.

With two speakers playing, it's also interesting with both ears open, with higher frequencies (500 Hz +).
The higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength, at some point the phantom center will slightly "wobble" when moving your head.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

I'm 69 and can't hear test tones above about 10kHz anymore. I doubt I'm missing much. My experience certainly isn't tragic. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think once you've lost sensitivity above 8kHz no hearing aid is going to restore it. Your flesh and blood mechanism for detecting it is just not there anymore no matter how much it gets amplified.

 

[respice finem]

You can try and EQ it to taste, this lets you hear a little more "air", but at 69 probably too late.
The brain accommodates to the limitations anyway, and the music "lives" mainly in the midrange, so not that much is lost (IMHO).
Looking at clasical music, we see many "cemetery blond" world class artists, so it can't be that bad...

 

[Ropeburn]

I'm 69 and can't hear test tones above about 10kHz anymore. I doubt I'm missing much. My experience certainly isn't tragic. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think once you've lost sensitivity above 8kHz no hearing aid is going to restore it. Your flesh and blood mechanism for detecting it is just not there anymore no matter how much it gets amplified.

Yeah that's how it is. Anything above 8 kHz isn't important for speech recognition anyway, which is what hearing aids are usually intended for. 300-3000 Hz is the usual speech range (which is why old 8 kHz sampling rate digital telephone transmission was really good enough).

Of course that doesn't help with music, but oh well. That's just life, and good to see you're taking it lighthearted. When I grow old, I want to be like you.

 

[Pauper]

I’m 74 and mix the PA sound in a club that has mainly people twenty to thirty years younger than me. I know that my hearing is pretty much lost above 9500, but…I don’t get many - if any , complaints about the sound . So I can only assume that there’s not a lot going on above 10k.

 

[diablo]

Thank you, that one's very convenient - or am I saying that just because I got a nice result? 74 years old and still good up to nearly 11kHz.

I'm also 74 and I can also get to just under 11kHz - but I have to turn the volume WAY up above 8kHz.

 

[Snoopy]

I

I'm 69 and can't hear test tones above about 10kHz anymore. I doubt I'm missing much.

Not sure about that. I tried it with my waxwing phono stage that has a low and hi-cut filter and removed all frequencies above 8-10-12khz and thought that music sounds rather dull and muffled even by cutting at 12khz.

 

[Fredygump]

Yeah, same here. I'm 44 now and my limit is 12.5khz. And sometimes I notice a slight amount of tinitus. 3-4 years ago I could hear 14.5khz. When I was younger I once got a perfect score on an occupational hearing test.

In the past I've told people that 10-20khz is just one octave, so only 7 musical notes. And there is no melody playing that high!

We expect speakers to extend up to 20hz as a technical requirement, That spec is to ensure that everything is being reproduced accurately. But that is in no way suggesting that there is any meaningful audio content up to 20khz! Occasionally I'll use the RTA feature in REW with music or movies playing, and there isn't much going on above 5khz.

 

[Chromatischism]

There is definitely sound in the 10-15 kHz range in some of the soundtracks I have.

 

[respice finem]

Even the old DIN 45500 Hi-Fi norm was (IIRC) 40-12500 Hz. But what can we all do when our hearing is not compliant...

 

[Rja4000]

OK,
I'm 64.
I still hear the 10kHz quite well - although probably with a strong attenuation.
Unsurprisingly, I don't hear anything at 16kHz.

(Further testing, but still not really in depth: I can still hear 11-12kHz. Definitely not above that)

 

[Bwaslo]

Careful when turning up to hear higher tones with speakers. Most tweeters don't like high level tones, the little voice coils get hot and can burn.

 

[respice finem]

Careful when turning up to hear higher tones with speakers. Most tweeters don't like high level tones, the little voice coils get hot and can burn.

Correct. But most EQ options limit the amplitude, thus protecting the user from himself

 

[Soandso]

It should be considered that hearing loss is not likely (at least extrapolating from mine) occurring at all frequencies to a uniform degree. For example in one ear 2 years ago at 250 Hz I was down 35 decibels, at 1,000-2,000 Hz only down 10 decibels, and then although sharply plummeted down to 30 decibels at 3,000 Hz it wasn't until 4,000 Hz where my hearing loss was worse that it was for 250 Hz. [For that matter that ear's hearing loss at both 500 Hz and 750 Hz was worse than the decibel loss at 1,000-1,500 Hz.)

And furthermore, between left and right ears the pattern of hearing loss with regards to specific frequencies is also not likely (at least extrapolating from mine) occurring in the same pattern. Again for example: now for my other ear when compared to my above described ear's 250-750H Hz frequencies this ear had less decibel losses. Yet this ear's hearing loss at 1,500 Hz was worse than the above described ear. And furthermore in this ear it was as soon as 2,000 Hz when it had the same hearing loss as it does at 250 Hz; then plummeting to double the hearing loss at 3,000 Hz in comparison to what the 250 Hz hearing loss is in this same ear.

 

[DVinylfan]

I'm 55. I save A LOT of money knowing I can't hear anything above 10Khz.

 

[EJ3]

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.

Another reason to test: I have a ZERO area between 7K & 8K that I discovered by doing an online FR test & then reversing the headphones left & right. The blank zone stayed at the same ear, so not the headphones.

 

[DSJR]

It's best to have hearing professionally tested with calibrated equipment. using domestic headphones or iems may well give odd results. My depleted hearing (I'm 68 going on 69 in January) is as much threshold level as it is general loss at hf frequencies and is more in the mid kHz region (quite substantial according to the official plots I was sent). There's a partial recovery around 8kHz however, which is why older two way designs with odd dispersion up top can sound dull but with tinsel (domestic PMCs sound terrible to me and as I can't hear in-room much of the massive hf rise over 9kHz that many of their designs exhibit).

Treasure what hearing you (still) have fellas. The depression when the loss hits bad, can ruin enjoyment of music and makes room and speaker more important than ever

 

[tmtomh]

I could easily hear up to 18kHz in my teens and early 20s, but now in my mid-50s I can only reliably hear up to just over 14kHz.

I can still detect home higher frequencies if I turn my head sideways so the sound is radiating parallel to my ear instead of perpendicular. But for all realistic and practical purposes 14k is my current limit. I only hope that my future high-frequency loss is as mild and gradual as realistically possible.