High End Audio and Your hearing as you get older

There's a difference between "hearing" and "listening". Even though our ears may not be able to hear as well as we age, our mind is able to listen and comprehend better. It's similar to being smart vs. being wise. ;)

As for our mind and mental skills fading as we get older, well, that's another issue. :(

There's a great presentation by Evelyn Glennie at TED that addresses this issue. Even though she is deaf, she is a world class percussionist. I'll find a link and post it.

Here is the link: http://www.ted.com/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen.html

Great presentation!

I have wondered if as we age, do we hear familiar things differently without realizing it? For example; do we narrow in on some frequencies such as treble sounds that we can hear, and yet because we don't hear all the harmonics that are generated from the those frequencies, hear them differently to the point that we now perceive them as brighter because they are incomplete?

I'm 81 and still buying hardware and software like there's no tomorrow (maybe there won't be). Does that answer your question? And no, I can't hear a thing over 10kHz, but it really doesn't matter to me.

I just turned 58 and have had tinitus (ringing) problems caused by influenza for about 12 years. I listen to music everyday and have learned how to listen around that frequency which occurs about 9khz. I can still hear frequencies higher than that and everything else is "clear as a bell". To address the original question, I believe the better the system at producing TRUE sound the more we enjoy it regardless of age. If Mitch4t means lower quality sound when he asks if "midfi" will sound the same as "hifi" when you get older the answer has to be no. Ballen got it exactly right. My system produces sound that sounds right to me and that sound keeps me front and center everyday. One thing everyone might benefit from is equalizing the pressure in your ears as you begin to listen to music. I am talking about what you do to lessen the external pressure on the eardrum when you fly at high altitude on an airplane by pinching your nose and blowing gently. You will experience greatly increased treble and clarity after this adjustment. Listening on clear days with high barometric pressure push in on the eardrum and prevent hearing music at it's best so equalizing the pressure allows better hearing. Want to thank everyone for their posts on this issue. Great question Mitch4t.