High End Audio and Your hearing as you get older

Ballan,

Thanks for the TED link to Evelyn Genie. I hope to meet her one day - inspiring. I noticed they have a video with Benjamin Zander speaking about passion. Having met Benjamin several years ago I am sure that is well worth watching too.

Nonoise, are your sure?

Unsound,
I stand corrected. And humbly so. A quick look at some graphs clearly shows that only the pipe organ can play a fundamental frequency to about 15Khz!
Everything else barely hits 5Khz. But it's the harmonics that can extend things to beyond 16Khz. In music they always will since no one plays only test tones. Considering that, was I so far off or am I missing something?

Sorry guys, from studies I've seen males begin loosing higher frequency perception by our mid-twenties. This happens to females too but not as early. The thing is we are all different so we do not lose it at the same rate.

I'm 68 and have worn hearing aids for eight years. Even with those I can't hear above 8K Hz. Does that mean I've lost my interest and pleasure in listening to music? Not a bit. Does it mean I've had to make adjustments? Absolutely.

I certainly miss the overtones of bells and cymbals. There was a time that I could identify how many different cymbals were being played by a jazz drummer in a good recording but no longer. There was a time when I identified between two CD players while blindfolded five our of five. I doubt I could do that today. I can accept those limitations because I still find enjoyment listening to music I love.

Concerning equipment, this has made me a little more sensitive to brightness and harshness. It may be surprising given my high frequency hearing loss but flutes, trumpets, violins, etc. can be uncomfortable to listen to if the system distorts them at all. But I have a reference in continuing to attend live music concerts where these instruments do not bother me as much.

Just take a tip from Ms. Glennie, try listening with your whole person.

On another note, I came across another graph showing that hand claps, footsteps, keys jingling, cymbals, piccolos, clarinets, bass tubas and female voices all knocking on the 15Khz door. Maybe I'm just hearing part of them in recordings or not, but if one were to limit the output of a speaker to just 15Khz, wouldn't I be missing something? There are the over and under harmonic overtones, echos, and ambience.

I'm content in knowing that although I've lost an appreciable amount of my hearing compared to when I was younger, I'm enjoying this hobby a hell of lot more and learning more as well.