hearing loss and speaker selection


So being 75 I've got hearing that ranges between 80hz and 9,000hz. So should I give a rat's patoot about a speaker's ability to reproduce frequencies below and above this range since I can't hear them? Obviously, I'm gonna shoot for those that handle the mids the best. Now I know the proof is in the pudding so that why we listen to speakers and pick the ones that we like best. But for the sake of discussion has there been any double-blind test or any test for that matter that supports the notion that unheard sound affects the sound you can hear through your speakers. Or should speaker manufacturers make a senior version of their speaker for us elderly folks. he says tongue in cheek.

  I understand hearing aids can restore some additional high frequencies, but I wonder if they can be tailored to replicate a tube sound over SS equipment or vis versa. Headphones aside is there some other specialized device(s) a hearing impaired person can use beyond a hearing aid that can maximize or enhance the listening pleasure? I know there are many prior posts on hearing loss but I could find none that addressed increasing the listener's frequency range or for that matter clarity. Some older posts did address clarity say go for speakers with the best clarity.

Have fun you can't take it with you.

scott22

Yes scott22 there is plenty of evidence that a speakers ability to reproduce sounds outside the range of what you can "hear" does indeed impact the music you are able to hear. The evidence is there scientifically, from personal experience, and even just plain old common sense.

The scientific evidence is we have 4 times as many ear cells devoted to detecting frequencies above 20kHz as below. Four times. Hearing tests use sine waves that you will not hear. But your ears will detect these higher frequencies and use them to help localize and identify the source. They are there to detect transient timing information, highly important because you do not just want to know that it was a tiger that snapped the twig, you want to know where the tiger is. Real important stuff. 

Perfect example, I added Townshend super tweeters to my Tekton Moabs. Even though virtually all the output is outside my hearing range they clearly improve instruments way down into the midrange and even bass. Speaking of bass, really low frequency reproduction improves a sense of space and envelopment even in recordings that don't seem to have any bass. So for example when my DBA was put on Pods I easily heard the improvement even though the first record I played had no discernible bass. 

Another example, there is a sweep tone used to demagnetize that goes to 20kHz. I can't hear anywhere near 20k. But a young guy here one time was covering his ears in agony telling me to turn it down. I could hear literally nothing. Not one thing. I thought at first the super tweeters were set too high. Could easily happen since I can't hear them anyway. I was going by the way what I could hear sounded. But when we played music he was fine. So again there are huge differences between the static sine wave type test tones we use and music. 

This same guy by the way, with objectively far superior hearing, couldn't hear a lot of little changes I made that were easy and obvious enough to me. So there is hearing, and there is listening, and the two sometimes overlap but not always. 

By the way the function of these ear cells devoted to ultra-sonic frequencies does not degrade with age nearly as much as you would think from your rolled off hearing tests. This is another factor that explains why older more experienced listeners can continue to hear and evaluate far better than one would think based just on their rolled off hearing tests.

Finally there is common sense. You hear all kinds of things every day in the real world that involve sounds that extend far beyond your range of hearing, at least in terms of our primitive testing methods. Your speakers only really need to reproduce sounds so that they sound just like the ones you hear in real life. You. Not anyone else. 

To do this properly they need to be capable of response far outside the range you might think based only on routine audiology tests.

Instead of fretting over the possible shortcomings at both frequency extremes, may I suggest that you if you simplify and hone your focus on the VERY BEST midrange reproduction you can get ….. all good will be restored and angst relieved.That’s where 90% of the music spectrum resides.if you get the midrange right: “…all the king’s horses, and all the king’s men….”

ergo .,,, that is why I offloaded my honkin’ floorstanders and upgraded to HARBETH 30.2XD standmount speakers. My Yellow Brick Road to Audio OZ has now been restored without concern for any natural aging warts. In my experience, I love the music experience more now then with any speakers before.

I’m 69 years old and yes…l too endure that I am inescapably not as good as I once was in many ways; including natural aging induced hearing loss , (but I keep telling my wife that I am as good ONCE as I EVER was ….)

IMO, you are over thinking this , so don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things. Enjoy!

Old Guys Rule ….. old age and treachery will overcome youth and enthusiasm!

Hearing test prove you have hearing loss not gone all together. There is a reason for an EQ and tone control. Room correction is for room correction. Your hearing loss is exclusive to you so is the EQ setting..

Full range speakers are a good place to start. If you limit the speaker you will certainly limit what you MIGHT hear.. Would I spend a fortune? Under 2K for me and I get real happy with a VMPS RM30.

Some are over 20 years old.. Bullet proof. Small Planars and ribbons. BTW they have LPads too. You can really punch the mids and highs to help out..

Regards

I’d start using some kind of equalizer to help even things out.  Or, if it’s that bad headphones might bring you more happiness.  Best of luck. 

MC Thank you for the detailed scientific insight and for your time! As they say, Youth cannot be denied that is except for the ability to hear above 17,000Hz. Frankly, I am surprised I’m not totally deaf for all the Led Zepplin, Who, Stones, etc. blasting away on my Snell C2mk2 back in my youth and continuing to today but with a different system and a different musical focus.

AKG I’m with you I’d go for the mids hells bells even without a hearing deficit I prioritize the midrange my Cantons are strong in that range.

Oldhvymec Thanks also good information, planars and or Ribbons and EQ.

Someday I hope to give both a try. I just hope I have a few some days left in the tank. I’d love to listen to some Maggies and Martin Logans Unfortunately, I do not know anyone in my area that shares my curiosity about gear. The one good store Audiolab in Morrisville Pa. I could visit but I would feel guilty going in just to hear their gear with no intent of buying, the libra in me just won’t let me. Decades ago when I was a kid I’d drive an hour to listen to systems at Soundex in Willow Grove. They knew I was a kid and let me listen to their 6 figure system and other megabuck rooms that they had set up. That seed got me to buy my Snells and Adcom system a decade later and 40 years from then I still got an itch lol.

Soix I have Focal headphones they are sweet( little bass shy) but I like to listen to my Cantons.