We got a lot of positive feedback on our Can You Hear Like a Teenager? article, and it inspired us to take it just a little bit further.
Check your hearing with a list of tones that go from 8Hz all the way up to 22,000Hz. It’s fairly common for people who are over 25 years of age to not be able to hear above 15kHz and also experience some level of hearing loss or hearing damage such as tinnitus. This online test will help you find out where your high frequency hearing cuts off.
Musicians have a much higher risk of hearing loss that most people do, and many of us don’t really wear proper hearing protection. Even just listening to an iPod for an extended period of time can permanently damage your hearing. We also gradually lose our high-frequency hearing as we age.
Take our online hearing test: listen to each of these tones and let us know where your hearing cuts out. Make sure to turn the volume down on your headphones or speakers and gradually turn them up to a safe level.
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8 kHz
10 kHz 12 kHz 14 kHz 15 kHz 16 kHz |
17 kHz
18 kHz 19 kHz 20 kHz 21 kHz 22 kHz |
Importance of Hearing Protection
If you’re around loud music a lot like I am, or if you are experiencing some hearing loss, I highly recommend getting a pair of hearing protection earplugs.
The Etymotic earlplugs don’t muffle the sound like conventional earplugs – they basically give you the same frequency response as without, but with a bit lower volume. If I wear them out to a club, they also help me carry on a conversation without yelling. Etymotic earbuds are also great in that they isolate your ear so you don’t have to turn up the volume as much on your MP3 player (ambient noise is one of the biggest reasons we turn up the volume). I love mine.
I am dnb producent,I will have 20 year one month from the time I type this.
I can hear flat up to 15khz
16khz is slightly less loud but still very easy to percieve,I would say I hear it at 80%
17khz… I cant still hear it clearly but its about one third or less of loudness compared to 15khz and lower freqencies.
18khz This is the point where I no longer can hear it,it makes me sad,I was thinking I would hear this atleast till 25
once a year I go to this incredibely loud dnb event with has soundsystem with over 80.000watts of power.
Im 13, and can hear to (barely) 18 without headphones, and still only to 18 with headphones (albeit much more solidly). I have my ipod on quite loud sometimes, about half that time it is in my ear. Very interesting test.
Just for the record… you are not going deaf if you can’t hear the sounds. There is little chance that the speakers you are using can reproduce these wavelengths. The only way you are going to get a somewhat reasonable result is… drumroll please… a hearing test! Yes, a certified hearing test which takes place in a sound isolation booth and utilizes a fairly high end set of headphones capable of frequencies beyond 8-16khz… not at all like your crappy laptop/desktop speakers. Which makes this online “Hearing Test” pretty-much useless… which makes me wonder why someone would go through the trouble of even making this website???
Go Figure!
[…] put out ~12kHz and should not be used for this test! Above is a comment by ProDigit in response to Can you Hear This? […]
I’m 24, can hear up to and including 19khz (18 is faint, 19 very much so). I almost feel like I can hear 20 with my ear jammed against the speaker but I could be imagining it (it’s like when someone turns a TV on in another room, if anyone knows what I mean by that).
I don’t listen to music all that loud or use earphones much but I’m a military helicopter pilot (although we always wear at least single ear protection and I personally almost always wear double). Anyway very cool test!
Age:56
I can hear up to 12k, just barely. Using headphones. Many years of industrial noise, only recently (last 12 years or so) started using earmuffs.
Still enjoy music. Can’t remember which musical device makes significant sound above 12k…yeah, I know about overtones, etc.
Thanks for the unscientific test! This is a service to all, I’ve always been curious…
I’m 15 and I can hear up to 20-21. 21 is extremely faint and 20 is faint. I’m around somewhat loud music about twice a week and i listen to my iPod full blast often.
I’m 23 years old, and I can hear all of it. oO
Some of them really hurtful for my ears, under 12 KHz. Those sound were really painful for my ears.
I turned down the volume, I still heard them, but they were less hurtful.
I’m 14 and without headphones I can hear up to 16 kHz. With headphones I can bearly hear 19 kHz.
haha this is cool. I’m 24, can hear up to 17.
I am 55 and can only hear the first test at 8 kHz.
How bad is that?
i am 23/yo .. i can listen until 17 khz .. with my mac and sony earphones ..
should i max out my volum or .. ??? both of their level are half cut
I’m 25 a musician and have worked extensively in audio production. I can hear up to 14KHZ. Great Post!
I am 30 and a musician and can hear up to 20, with the air conditioning and fan both blowing using only the built-in speakers on my laptop.
I am 25, I like earplugs, but I am listening it rare. 17khz is noisy, 18khz is calm, 19khz is almost silent, 20 – nothing.
I’m 23 and I’m spending almost all the day wearing headphones. I can hear only up to 18KkHz, but strangely enough I can also hear 21kHz (though 19,20&22 are pure silence)! Maybe it’s bad isolation, I don’t know…
Shocking. In my 30’s, can hear them all, and spent my youth at raves (and when I say raves I mean everything from old school to hard gabber / speedcore), and now for a living drive the Intercity 125 trains, which have earbleedingly loud engines!
I’m 23, M. I can hear up to 17 kHz very clearly using my laptop’s partially working speaker (not that loud and good). But at 18 kHz and above I hear only the starting and ending beeps and can’t distinct any thing in the middle even when listening through ear piece.
Im 15 and can hear 21
So I tried this on a few people in my family, So I am 14 and I could clearly hear 18 and 19 and could barely hear 20. My mom is 43 and she could only hear up to 12. Then I did it on my 18 year old sister and she could only hear to 16. Weird but crazy
I’m 40, I hear 17 barely, but not 18.
I’m 25 and I can hear up to 17-18 (18 is faint), using 5.1 speakers, and two different pairs of headphones. (cheap headphones cut out at 15 though, good ones about 17, and my 5.1’s at 18)
female, 53 y/o I can only hear up to 10kHz. I have had constant ringing in my ears for over a year since I have been on new medication in addition to sinus conditions.
I am 63 and I can hear up to 14KHZ
I can hear 20 a little bit, and with full volume when I’m leaning against the speaker I can just barely hear something with 21.
I’m 28 and I’ve only been to moderate amounts of loud music. I have quite expensive monitor speakers that produce 50 Hz – 50 kHz. (not because I’m an audio engineer… I just like the sound of them) however I can barely hear 17khz. 😐 So some of you that are worried… You may have cr@ppy speakers for sure… or maybe it’s not as bad as you think because I’m only 28 and I really dont abuse my ears. I’ve only had them exposed to the point of “ringing” maybe 7 times in my life (raves lol)
I am 16, and I can hear up to 19. After that, it’s just pure silence.
I am 22 and can hear all sounds upto 22 except 20khz, I don’t know what is the problem with 20khz and I am using Headphones.
Hi, Im 20 and i can hear up to 19 (highest volume with in-ear-phones). 20-22 are very difficult to hear but 22 is a bit easier to hear than 21.i wonder why.. i listen to lots of music with in-ear-phones with quite high volume.
16, been playing music without hearing protection since age 7 when I started all five of the instruments I play (drums bass guitar piano accordion), and I can hear 21khz, 22 is impossible for me.
I just turned 49 and can only hear 8 Hz. This doesn’t surprise me because I just saw an audiologist who told me I had a high-frequency hearing loss, along with tinnitus – which is driving me mad!!!
Im 17 and i can hear at 18khz normally, discovered a cheat at real life…
when I try listening to 22 and jump to 19 I can hear it with a lot of effort, but it worked for me : D
Im 14 and can hear all the way up to 16 :/
I been to to many partys and raves
I’m 15 and could hear up to 20 khz without headphones. I’m doing a science project on this so thanks!!!
I’m 23 years old and i can barely hear 19kHz
I’m an 18 year old musician.. I’ve listened to loud music all my life. Anddd I can only hear until 14, even that I can barely hear with my mac speakers all the way up, and my Sennheiser HD280 plugged in as well as my Shure earbuds (I believe they are the something-80 model.) Yikes. I tried all three of those and 14 is the highest I could hear with volume all the way up. Cr*p.
I am 57 , I only hear 8 khz
I am 40 and can only hear up to 12k. For 14k I heard only very faint. I used in ear MEElectronics M-6. My 9 years old kid can hear up to 17 k (I think that’s the limit of the earbud.)
I am a starting hiphop producer but i can only hear to 18.
Is that bad?
Because i always cut off above 16khz
20 year old Drum & Bass DJ/Producer… Had loud music all my life, at home when I was a child my mum would have the tunes on FULL BLAST all the time as she went about the housework. I loved it and developed a love for music. Also, unfortunately – THE POWER OF SOUND.
So I’m hearing up to 16Khz on my Sennheiser HD25’s. Great. Also a permanent ring that sounds like it should be in the 17Khz+ range just in my head. I think it always has been.
Oh dear :/
Also I should add that I’ve never worn hearing protection apart from at air shows etc.. Generally stand close to the stack at raves – most weekends – or have devastatingly loud DJ Monitors in my face all night.
I think my ears are starting to feel the pain and now I have tinnitus. I think.
I will never, leave for any sort of LOUD situation without some ear plugs – I’m going to get the proper ones, but now I’m feeling so depressed etc because of this tinnitus.
Music is the only thing I’ve ever had to live for and now this :/
I’m 38, and having hearing damage. (I say “what” more than I like, and have tinnitus)
Still,
I could hear up to 17khz
At normal (rather low volume) I could hear 17 clear, 18 rather well and barely hear 19 however when I raised the volume up a bit (still not uncomfortable for music an such) but still rather loud in my opinion I could hear them all but those over 20 were very hard to hear and I could just barely hear them (heard them lower then 19 with low volume).
Just to clarify, I’m using AKG K 242 HD headphones directly plugged into a MacBook Pro Unibody while doing the test.
im 14 i hear up to 18kHz but i can only just hear 18kHz its almost mute 😛
I am 22 and I hear 8-21
As other’s have stated (and we can’t get to critical they did say “unscientific”) this is not a very accurate hearing test so please don’t be worried if you can’t hear above a certain frequency. The majority of consumer based sound cards and computer speakers aren’t going to be able to reproduce tones much higher then 17khz.
Also the most important thing to have when doing a proper hearing test is a reference tone (1khz). You also need to account for an equal-loudness contour when referencing the higher frequencies as well.
The most important part about the article is to keep your ears safe. Prolonged ear bud wear should be avoided and if you’re a musician or a club goer get some some good earplugs. You can get a nice set of musicians ear plugs for 12 bucks on amazon. If you’re a musician (especially drummers) and you have good insurance go visit an ENT and get fitted for custom earplugs. I’m an audio engineer and this is the route I went. The nice part about custom fitted earplugs is the ability to swap out different filters. I have 10, 20, and 30db filters in mine.
Another thing to add – one of the most common ways for a teenager to degrade their hearing is mowing the lawn. Make your kid wear some real ear protection. If they insist on listening to music while mowing (like I did as a kid, heh) get some isolation headphones!
im 12 and could only hear up to 17
Iam 43yrs, Ican hear only 8kHz…
Age 52 and can hear fine up to 14KHz, plus 15 & 16 if I crank the volume. The incessant whine of my LCD monitor might be making it harder.
Please note, there is a problem with both the 20 and 21 KHz samples here: they are producing much lower tones as well (instead?). The one that’s supposedly at 20KHz sounds more like 4KHz, while the 21KHz one is even lower in frequency. Both are very quiet. Can you please check them? Turn up the volume gradually as you are listening to them, not all at once beforehand. This would explain the mixed results that some people have reported: it’s not actually those very high frequencies they’re hearing in these samples.
I’m 25 years old and i can hear all of those sounds, loud and clearly. I have a high-frequency hearing. And to be honest it was really hurt and my years still hurts! I’m not kidding.
I’m 25 years old and i can hear everything loud clearly i have high-frequency hearing :)It was actually hurt to be honest.. I’m not kidding.
I can hear up to 22, and I’m 21. I don’t like music especially loud music.