High End Audio and Your hearing as you get older

Well I guess this can all be summed up quite nicely by saying; as one gets older, one (hopefully) accumulates more wealth, which means one can buy more and better equipment.

I also have tinnitis and happened to play some test tones yesterday to learn that while I can hear a 10k tone loud and clear, I near nothing at 12.5k (the next available test tone).

This caused some amount of panic - what am I missing out on on, etc. I researched hearing aids - the open ear kinds that boost only the desired frequencies but learned that they don't work above 10k...

My ears are very sensitive to the higher frequencies now. I can't enjoy a concert without earplugs (i.e. the combo of distortion and loud volumes is very painful). I can listen to my own system loud because it's clean.

I did recently learn that in some songs I can't hear the highhats until the volume hits 82 db, then I hear them loud and clear. Weird...

I am curious to know what musical information I am missing. I suspect it's not that much, but still...

To answer Fishboat, Anyone who rides a motorcycle without a windshield, ear covering helmet, or earplugs is getting about 110-120db at 60mph. That will definitely ruin your hearing. I have heard the phrase "listening at audiophile volume levels". Does this mean super loud like 110-120db? That will definitely ruin your hearing also.

If you can still discern the difference between a live performance and recorded one, I think you have lots of fun ahead of you. It's more than just frequency response.

considering the hearing curve, are there any studies which show that at a certain age, high frequencies (??? over 7k), sound rolled off by a few db ??

maybe it pays to have one's hearing checked starting at age 70.