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Hearing Tests

I am wondering about the accuracy of online hearing tests. As we get older our ability to hear high frequency sounds is supposed to gradually decline. I imagine this is true for the vast majority of people. But my mother was nearly 100 when she passed away and her hearing was so acute that the nurses in the hospital were dumbfounded when my mother recounted the content of a conversation nearly-whispered between two nurses in the next room.

Since I am well into my 60s now I was concerned whether I have lost a significant amount of my hearing capacity. It seems to me that I can still hear the finest nuances from my system but you don't know what you are not hearing. But since I have always protected my ears from loud sounds of any kind I thought that maybe I could dodge the bullet. So, I took 3 online hearing tests and they came out just about smack on with the same results, which I was happy to see. The results said I have excellent hearing.

Here are the links to the 3 tests I used to test my hearing:

http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/can-you-hear-this-hearing-test/

http://www.talkclassical.com/17309-extreme-frequencies-hearing-test.html

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/hearing.html

Of course, online tests are not the same as having your hearing tested in a doctor's office. But do they have validity? And, if so, to what extent are they valid? I wish I could find the recent Audiogon thread where someone stated with authority that no one over a certain age (I can't remember the age mentioned) can actually hear above a frequency of 10,000 or 12,000 Hertz (I cannot remember which frequency was quoted).

Do you have any experience with hearing change as we get older and with the validity of hearing tests?
sabai
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,922 posts
 
Agreed. At the phys.com site, IKhz is the reference.

At the digital recording site, mentioned above, there is a graph that closely mirrors mine and is indicative of hearing loss. Yet I still can hear and enjoy, albeit with the hearing loss.

I listen to a lot of eclectic music with lots of woodwinds, accordians, etc. and have no trouble hearing them, as high as they go. The same goes for basses and cello.

There's a lot more going on in listening than test tones.

All the best,
Nonoise
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,693 posts
 
OK but the standard way to list thresholds is to assign 0dB to the 1kHz level and express the others in relationship to that.

Can you tell me where you are getting "1Khz@-86db?"
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,922 posts
 
All of my "@-**" indicates where I was unable to hear anything further. If I set it up wrong, I apologize. This was new to me and I just followed the directions (maybe incorrectly?)

All the best,
Nonoise
lloydc's avatar
lloydc
755 posts
 
professional hearing tests only measure out to about 8 khz. Most of the key distinguishing sounds in speech occur in the 2-6 range, but no higher, so that is where the real concerns lie. the finest hearing aids only correct out to 10K (but really do not correct much at the upper end of the range; most only go to 8 khz). Net result: with rare exceptions, only audiophiles are concerned with, or try to test for, very high frequency sensitivity. btw, a hearing test by a real audiologist costs $100 or less.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,693 posts
 
Nonoise, I was asking what program you were using and how you got your dB numbers.
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