Curious about the state of your hearing?


Audiophiles tend to make outlandish (and unsubstantiated) assumptions about their hearing acuity. I used to get an audiometer test every year, but it became expensive and depressing.

The University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia now has a fantastic online interactive audiometry test with a great user interface. Grab your headphones, try it and weep! Then report back, and be honest!! Tell us your age, high frequency limit, and any unusual loss at a specific frequency.

www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/hearin...
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I can hear everything between 1000 and 10,000 Hz! Talk about 'golden ears!'
The sound card in your computer, linearity of headphones and ambient noise all but ruin any possibility of this being a "true" test.

I ran the test and did pretty well until I got to the upper and lower limits of bandwidth. Since this is the most difficult region for iPod headphones to produce (in a linear manner), I didn't get great results.

A profession audiologist can test with equipment calibrated to offset any errors where the patients hearing is what's actually being tested.

I go to a separate doctor to test my eyes every 6 months and my hearing every year. The test on line is not in keeping with my report from my MD.
Albert, I said grab your headphones, not your ear buds! The online instructions do in fact specify cans that fully enclose your ears, along with disclaimers about quiet backgrounds and decent sound cards.

I took the test at night (Sony MDR-V6 cans) when it was quiet of course, and ran it twice -- first just to familiarize myself with it, and then to settled in and really listen. (I never feel quite "ready" at the doctor's, and they NEVER let you do it twice, God forbid!)

In any case, I found the UNSW test to be highly accurate, and right in line with the "professional" results I got a few weeks earlier. YMMV as they say.
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My iPod buds are Ultimate Ears Super.Fi pro 5:

Response bandwidth 20 - 16000 Hz
Sensitivity 119 dB/mW
Impedance 21 Ohm
Driver design Two way
Ear pads Included
Cables type Headphones cable
Headset connectivity technology Wired with sound isolation of approximately 28-30 Db when properly fitted in ear.

Note bandwidth is rated up to 16K, meaning bandwidth at or below 16K is likely compromised. Your Sony model MDR-V6 cans are rated to 30K and should deliver better results.

In my opinion, very headset has bandwidth variations that would require precision overlay correction to get accurate results.

One does need to begin with a headset with enough bandwidth to match the limit of the test tones and at least your Sony's appear to have that covered.