Test "the age" of your ears

For Stockholm subway drivers

We have to make real tests every 5 years, and more often after 50. And at 60+ every year. (it is part of a health control, every subway driver has to go through, in order to become approved for the next period). If something fails, you're out. (likely get moved somewhere else)

During the ear examination, you sit in a booth - which looks like something wooden test tube from the 50s - but it is absolutely silent. With bulky headphones on, you stop breathing because the sounds that come along, are so extremely faint (and change direction), that every breath and heartbeat seem to make it difficult to hear them *LOL* I never liked those tests, because of that forced tension... Nevertheless, so far so good, and my ears are fine all the way up to 20.000 Hz at the age of 52 (last time i tested).
 
This is a routine test for audio engineers and mastering professionals as well, except with those tests the point isn't how old your ears are, it's what frequencies can you no longer hear. Humans can only hear from 20hz to 20khz, so the older you get, as well as if you have damaged your ears at any age, the higher end starts to fade off and you can no longer hear past a certain range.

It's interesting as with sight, we can only see in certain wavelengths, and we can only hear in certain wavelengths, and then when you get into things like sonoluminescence and cymatics sound and light/visible imagery starts to blur.

These are very intriguing phenomenon so I definitely recommend reading more about them if you're interested

SONOLUMINESCENCE: SOUND INTO LIGHT​

The energy of a sound wave in a fluid can concentrate by 12 orders of magnitude to create flashes of light that can be shorter than 50 picoseconds. A picosecond is a millionth of a millionth of a second. The flashes originate from hot spots that form inside bubbles that nucleate, expand, and crash in response to the travelling sound wave. We have observed hot spots as small as 10 nanometers and as large as 100 microns. We can generate them one shake at a time or at a rep rate of 10 million times per second. Will the degree of energy focusing that can be achieved with the physics of sonoluminescence someday reach to thermo-nuclear fusion?
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journeyofcuriosity.net

What is Cymatics? Science of Visible Sound Explained

What is cymatics? Sound resonance and faraday waves explained. How to cymatics at home. Physics of cymatics in nature and sacred geometry. DIY cymatics setup
journeyofcuriosity.net journeyofcuriosity.net
Cymatics is the study of sound and vibration made visible, typically on the surface of a plate, diaphragm or membrane.

From ancient Greek: κῦμα, meaning "wave", Cymatics is a subset of modal vibrational phenomena. The study of visible sound and vibration. The term was coined by Hans Jenny (1904-1972) a physician and natural scientist. In 'Cymatics: The Study of Wave Phenomena' he concluded, "This is not an unregulated chaos; it is a dynamic but ordered pattern."

The multiple forms of universal geometry, symmetry and beauty that emerge through resonance in various mediums, allows us to ponder the nature of sound, vibration, form and many more questions.
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Some videos on cymatics in action are pretty amazing too, when you compare them to ancient temples and the designs of the interiors and different windows and patterns. Somebody definitely knew something back then
 
When I listen with my headphones I hear the signal first at 14, but I also then hear crackling sounds.

Using my phone alone I start hearing the crackling sounds at 6, then eventually around 31 I hear the high pitched signal, side by side.

One of my coworkers was also able to hear the crackling at 6, and he sat 2 meters away from the phone. That sound is clearly audible.

Left my earbuds at work. But it was similar to using the phone.
 
When I started to conduct the test, my son came up to me from another room and asked what a terrible squeak was. We started listening together (without headphones) and both heard a crackling sound at 6.
We decided that something was wrong, perhaps we should hear a squeak? I heard a squeak at the age of 39-40 (this is my age). And the son said "Hmm. I heard the squeak much earlier - 14-15" Exact match! The same result in headphones. WOW!
 
Well I am 66 years and I started hearing at age 10 and got the same result for the left and the right hears.

I did the test a couple of times and I got the same result each times.

So it must be a problem with my computer. I will have to try it on another one.
 
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At 37 (is there a 37 yr old club in this thread or what), I can hear it at 34 in Bluetooth headphones and around 30 with my phone. It starts off with a rapid clicking sound before becoming a smooth tone. I wonder if those are limitations of the devices I’m using (they suggested wired headphones, gotta get me some).
 
I tried the test as well and my results are rather bad which isn't that surprising to me since I'm exposed to rather loud noises for about 15 years now in my job. My results are: On both ears simultaneously at least 5 years older. The left ear is much worse; about 20 years older. And the right ear about 10 years older.

Out of curiosity I turned up the volume and it got better significantly. So I think the volume as well as the type of headphone you are using can very significantly change the result. So as long as that is not the same for everyone that makes the test, the test IMO isn't all too reliable.
 
Pashalis said:
I tried the test as well and my results are rather bad which isn't that surprising to me since I'm exposed to rather loud noises for about 15 years now in my job. My results are: On both ears simultaneously at least 5 years older. The left ear is much worse; about 20 years older. And the right ear about 10 years older.

Out of curiosity I turned up the volume and it got better significantly. So I think the volume as well as the type of headphone you are using can very significantly change the result. So as long as that is not the same for everyone that makes the test, the test IMO isn't all too reliable.
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I'm with you. My ears are 10 years older than me. :lol: :whlchair:
 
Well, if I have the volume at 20%, I can hear the noise at 3 years younger than I am. If I place the volume at 50%, both ears are 10 years younger. I don't want to try it with a higher volume though, because when I do start hearing the noise, I find it very distasteful.
 
Pashalis said:
I tried the test as well and my results are rather bad which isn't that surprising to me since I'm exposed to rather loud noises for about 15 years now in my job. My results are: On both ears simultaneously at least 5 years older. The left ear is much worse; about 20 years older. And the right ear about 10 years older.
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The test says to put the volume at the start at a "comfortable level". I looked up other online test and the ones I checked also say this. So that seems to be the basis volume most such types of tests use. How "comfortable" is defined by anyone might be quite different I guess. Also, as far as I know, depending on which headphones you are using, the results might be off quite a bit. For example, headphones can vary quite significantly in terms of the frequency range that they can play in terms of hardware.

Having said that, if everyone puts the volume at a more or less "comfortable" level, the result might be more or less accurate, I dunno.

PS:

I found a test that checks for volume depending on which rough types of headphones you are using and on which system. For me, it is a "PC" and "over ear" "wired" headphones. In that case, the test tells me that I should set the volume of the system at 50%, before the start. Also, that test uses a different approach than the test in the first post (and similar tests online).

I did the test and it says my hearing is well in the "good hearing" range, while (IMO rightly) pointing out that it is not a professional hearing test, although I think it is much more accurate than the test the guy in the video presented.

Unbenannt das.jpg

I did a real professional hearing-test not too long ago and the above "good result" from the "Phonak" test, corresponds with that result, in contrast with the first video test in which I scored quite badly. Also, I think depending on which time of the day you do the test and how loud the surrounding environment is at that moment, the results might differ quite a bit as well.
 
I started to hear at 6 for both and left ear, and 8 for the right... This is suspicious, I am way older than this! Will try again with my PC...
 
I had a professional hearing test done a month or two ago. My left ear was normal and had some hearing loss in my right ear. I also did the hearing test that Pash found. According to that I have good hearing in both ears, but my right ear was on the edge of the "good hearing" so any further loss would put me in the "mild issues category".

With all that said, I had my in-ear headphones set to about 50% volume when following along with the video. I didn't start hearing the high pitch noise until it was at age 44 in my left ear and 48 in my right ear.

Which means my left ear is 12 years too old and my right ear is 16 years too old. Anyone know at what "ear age" it will be acceptable to start yelling at kids to get off my lawn? :whlchair: :-P
 
Apparently, both my ears are 20/21 years old in terms of hearing high frequencies. In terms of volume it could be another story however.
 
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