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.
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.
MinistryClubber, you’ve sent out exactly the right message. I didn’t go clubbing every week however I listened to a lot of loud music when I was a teenager / twentysomething. I’ve got ER15 earplugs and thank god for these!
I may upgrade them to ER25’s in the future.
If you’re djing you definitely need them. Anne Savage (DJ, presenter etc) has tinnitus in her ears and so wishes she had used earplugs before.
Tinnitus is not curable but there are ways to distract you from it. I’ve got it slightly at the very top end but I’m taking good care of my hearing NOW while I still have it.
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I’m 56 and am able to hear tones at 18 and below, plus 21 even faintly at 22. The 19, 20, 22 had a lower frequency buzzing that almost obscured the pitch tone. I’d be amazed if I was actually hearing 18 and 21khz. I bet it’s reproducing a lower frequency. This is on a MBP with earphones and volume cranked up. I tried two different sets of phones and it made a difference. The first were Olympus that came with a voice recorder, the second were a pretty good audio set by Sony. I could hear the 22 on the Sony and not the Olympus. The buzzing was louder on the Olympus. This volume level would be way too loud to listen to music.
I’m 48. I downloaded the mp3’s and played them: on-board soundcard -> modest Pioneer receiver -> speakers. I could clearly hear 15kHz. 16kHz sounded faint. 17kHz was barely audible but I heard the difference between 17kHz and 18kHz (18kHz and above was completely silent for me, except some background noise of lower frequencies at the highest volume).
I’m not a musician but I like to listen to violin music and I hate low frequency tones, especially under 80Hz. I believe my hearing is very sensitive for my age, at least when compared to my wife’s and friends’. Listening to loud music has always caused pain in my ears.
called-in sick for this thing! hahaha had a headache after..
im 26 and can hear em all… btw, im a sound system techie..
There’s definitely another tone that is significantly lower in frequency in the 22khz file. Either that or my hearing skips a few frequencies!
i’m 16…i can hardly hear past 18, and 19 makes my head hurt but i can’t hear a tone (if that makes any sense), and i can catch the last bit of twenty.
so let’s call that 18.
bye bye, loud ear-buds…
This is wierd, i can hear all the tones when i crank up the volume to a 100%, but when i tried it again at 30%, i couldn’t hear the 16,17 and 18 Khz frequencies, and then i could hear the higher ones 30, 21 and 22 kHz distinctly, at the same volume…………. What gives?
Im 21 (v. nearly 22) and im cutting out at about 15/16khz. 15 is audible, 16 is more ‘detectable’ if I strain to hear it. This is seriously annoying cos I dj and go clubbing every week. I wear the Etymolics ER20 plugs and have been doing so for about 6-9 months. This year has been a major wake up call for me because I have developed tinnitus. Ear protection is absolutely essential, and I am upgrading to ER25’S NOW!!! Dont know if I will ever shift the T (hope so)….and im off to the audiologists tomorrow for a full check up cos music is starting to sound a little different at the high ends, becoming tinny. Please, if anybody can relate to this message me bk cos these problems became apparent only a couple of weeks ago, and im bricking it tbh. EVERYBODY WHO LOVES MUSIC….BUT SOME DAMN PLUGS!
Yes, it is true (per Dave A) that WAV files would be best. Indeed I loaded one of the test tones (18kHz – 192kbps bit rate) into Audacity and noticed the presence of signal at 9kHz, ~12.5kHz, etc. . However, the level of these pitches was 80db lower than the 18kHz tone making these lower pitches essentially ‘inaudible’. Put another way, if anyone were truly hearing one of the lower ‘imposter’ pitches, the volume would be cranked so high that tweeters might be fried reproducing (the not heard) 80 db louder 18kHz tone. I am assuming that folks are using decent computer speakers, sound cards, etc.
FWIW, my hearing seems to drop off around 14kHz these days (I am 53) but I remember as a kid easily hearing the ~16kHz tone produced by old-school TVs (horizontal scanning frequency).
I am 37…and ever since I have been taking “Serrapeptase”…my hearing has improved dramatically….I can hear all frequencies quite clearly now and no headphones etc…I am at a standard listening volume…they are very annoying…so I guess I am destined to live longer I guess…I drink and smoke like a fiend too…lol…just a note…on some “other” web tests…I can only hear up to the 18Khz and then it cuts out and then I can hear only the 21Khz and not the 22…I find that a bit odd…
Im 15, and i cant hear any frequency past 16.
i listen to my ipod alot, and stero on full blast.
My ears are aching now, and i tried the frequency test over 10mins ago. absolutely aching.
Is 16 average for a 15yo girl?
I started looking around for hearing stuff because my earbuds KILL my ears. I was sure I wouldn’t be able to hear this, but I can hear them ALL with my speakers very low. Surprising. 22 btw.
I am 13, can hear the sound around 20. Then again, I can hear 21 if i just turn up the volume a little bit. Can’t hear 22 though, no matter how hard I try.
Kinda strange..iam 20 and heard all of them except the 19 khz?..what about the 20/21/22?..i still can hear them but not the 19..is the only one..weird…;)..anyone feeling the same?
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Hi. I wish to ask from all those people who are able to hear upto 22 that what is their volume level of pc. if i turn it to full i can hear 22. If i reduce it to half ,i can’t hear over 16. Thanks
I’m sixteen, soon to turn 17 this October. I could hear all the way up to 20. I’m listening on my laptop and I’m sure everyone knows they’re not the loudest things on the world. That, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve dropped the darn thing and done damage to the speakers. Saying so, I really think I had potential to hear all the way to 21.
Overall, I knew I would do well because my guitar teacher stresses on the importance of being nice to the ears. I don’t use headphones, listen to loud music, or attend rock soncerts, though I would love to. :C
I am a 55 year old man. I can hear the tone up to 20khz. I do not know whether my computer speaker or sound card can reproduce frequencies above 20khz, so I do not know whether it is me who cannot hear that frequency or whether my speaker or sound card will not reproduce that frequency. I believe the speaker or sound card definitely affects the sound in my case because the 21khz frequency is louder and lower than the 20khz frequency. Also, it depends on the volume. If you turn up the volume, you may hear the frequency. Without turning up the volume, I was able to hear the 16khz frequency, but nothing above that. I also noticed a difference between my left and right ears and it seemed I could hear better with my right ear.
I’m 30 years old. I listen to music on my mp3 player a lot. I use Koss titanium headphones.
22khz sounds like a low hiss, to me.
19khz I can just start to hear it. I can hear everyone after. They sound lowder to me as I go down.
One thing that bugs me: I have always used headphones. Reciently I started using ear buds that came with my mp3 player. Even when I turn them up all the way, they do not become as loud as my head set, which I listen at half volume, at work. It’s always been a confortable level, for me. However, after prolong exposer, I feel a numbing sensation. To which I think my ears are saying please turn it down a little. My hearing also seems to vary a lot. On some days, I turn down to less than half. Example I will listen anywhere between 18 and 24 on the volume scale. 31 is the loudest the players can go.
I’ll be 21 soon. I can’t hear 15. This depresses me slightly, but I already knew that I have pretty severe hearing loss due to frequent ear infections during childhood.
I can hear all the way to 22. I had to turn up my speakers a bit but I can faintly hear it, very low frequency.
[…] with an extreme music) to be better all around then my desktop speakers, some Z5300s. Using this test I was able to hit 16 khz with my headphones. 17 being barely noticable at high volumes. Tested […]
52 and i can hear 20 khz
Ugh. Really? You’re an “online audio magazine” and yet you don’t know about how MP3s work?
MP3s CANNOT reproduce frequencies that high. Load up your 22khz MP3 into Audacity (or similar) and perform spectral analysis. Here, I’ve done it for you:
22khz MP3: http://imgur.com/29fhd.png
22khz WAV: http://imgur.com/b2fff.png
Despite the fact that the ‘harmonics’ are quite quiet, it explains why so many people “heard them but had to turn up the volume really high”.
In addition, listening to an mp3 within your browser (or in Flash) often introduces an effect called aliasing, which is an even more pronounced version of the above. Here’s what it looks like:
21khz played via web browser: http://imgur.com/cqn4w.png
Well isn’t that a mess? If anyone heard 18+Khz loud and clear, this is most likely what they were hearing. The only way to properly test your hearing in the way you’re trying to accomplish is to get people to open up RAW WAV files in an audio program.
[…] I beg of you to either replace the MP3s with WAVs or to simply delete the entire thing. It’s dangerous.
Gah! I feel bad about losing from an old goat. I’ve only been on this earth for 19 years and am already missing out on the >19kHz sounds.
Considering the fact that I don’t use any form of mp3-players and avoid noisy places alltogether I blame it on the genes.
I’m 23 and a half years old and I can hear all the way to 17kHz, not bad for the guy who is using MP3 a lot.
I can’t hear 18kHz but I can feel it.
I think I’ll ask my Dad to take the test, just for fun!
I am an old goat of 50, and can hear all the way up to 22 kHZ, with the volume up a bit.
42 and 12k was the highest one for me. Spent years 18 – 28 playing in clubs with no ear protection, so I’m sure that contributed.
I’m 17, and I hear all samples. Baeocystin seems to have the best hearing though, being so perceptive at 35.
I’m 43, I topped out at 12k and that was only in my right ear.
the only one i couldn’t hear was 19, i could feel it just not heat it, i can hear everything else tho… oh and I’m 19
Don’t feel bad mbm69–I’m only 20 and I can’t hear anything above 10kHz either, and I don’t even listen to my music loud!
I can hear up to 18 with my volume at 15%
I can hear 19-21 with my volume at 75%
and I can “feel” 22 with the volume at 100%
These are about the most annoying thing in the world when someone one has it on his or her phone and plays it repeatedly in class. Most teachers can’t hear it but it gives everyone else a splitting headache.
ahhh the sophomoric exploits of high school.
I’m 57, have never listened to headphones or loud music, and I think my hearing is pretty good. Better than many I know, but I can’t hear above 14. Ah well I’ll think of it this way – I might not be able to hear the extreme highs, but I hear more of the mid-range more acutely than most!!
great site. made me feel like i was back in my classes at Full Sail University 🙂 good training tool for us working in the biz.
57. 14. Damn. I know my hearing is trashed. I got my first big metal headphones when I was 16 so I could listen to the console stereo in the living room while my parents watched TV. Headphones were a sort of oddity in those days. By the time the rest of the world started using headphones regularly in the early 80s I’d already blown out my ears.
I beat everyone. I just turned 40 thought I had great hearing, but cannot hear anything above 10kHz
I’m 20 and I couldn’t hear the 12khz. I am around barking dogs at the kennel nearly all the time now. I wish the others at work knew some sign language cause then we wouldn’t have to yell over the dogs barking all the time.
im deaf 🙁
I’m 16, female and an avid musician. I can barely hear 20 and it completely cuts off at 21. This seems very scientific to me, perhaps you could organize this data into a study.
I am 40. My memory is not so good any more either. Thanks for the great recipe.
i’m 16 and i can barely hear 19 khz…thats extremely bad, i need to stop listening to so much damn heavy metal and wear earplugs to shows
Pleasantly surprised. I can hear up to 20 and I’m a 48 yr old ipod using metal head. I never crank up the sound on my buds though in an attempt to be nice to my ears.I do worry at a gig when you can feel your ears buzzing you know your doing damage so I was really glad to see I can still hear pretty well.
im 27 and i could hear up to 17… i couldnt hear 18 for some reason and 19 i could feel in the eardrums… even though the sounds made my head want to explode this is still pretty interesting… I do wear my ipod for an extended period of time while i am at work every night… but i can only keep one head phone in at a time to hear customers… i frequently change which ear phone i use just to try and not destroy my hearing too much…
I also read some where (not sure if its true) that your left ear is more accustomed to ambient noise such as music, while your right ear is more attuned to listening to voices… i wonder if that has any kind of effect… I tried that experiment at work as well and found it to be true… i could hear the lyrics better in my right ear and the music was more clear in my left…
strange how the body works…
I was very surprised with my results, especially after reading some of the other comments.
I’m in my mid 50s. I worked rock concerts during the school year when I was in college and worked construction during the summer without using any ear protection. Still, I was able to clearly hear 6-20 kHz and 21 kHz with my speakers cranked up high. It probably helps that since my mid-20s I generally haven’t been around loud noises, and I have rarely used headphones and never used them with the sound cranked up.
My father had lost all of his high hearing by his late 40s–probably from working in construction. For example, he couldn’t hear the alarm on his wrist watch and he couldn’t hear most bird songs.
I am 19 years old and i coud faintly hear 22kHz but my sound wasn’t even at full volume
I’m 37 and could hear 20mhz. Amazing considering my wife thinks me deaf! Thank od for selective hearing.
I am 23. I can hear all of them at half volume on my headphones. Good news!
I try to keep my music below the damaging range and take care of my ears when I play music.
I’m 23, and I can hear all of them. My speakers are pretty bad (and almost 10 years old), so I had to pump the volume up a bit.