Hearing loss with age, am I still an audiophile

Schmidlapper

Schmidlapper

Super Member
Downloaded some test tone sweeps to test out my system with an analyzer and it did great, but I discovered I no longer here anything above 13Khz. My wife made it to 16Khz. I have been a little depressed about it, I remember as a younger listener I was able to hear to 20Khz. So I kind of been thinking what's the point of having a good system? I guess I can quit worrying about whether my system has roll off, I do. Anyone else found out they've been rolled off by mother nature? :tears:
 
Schmidlapper said:
Downloaded some test tone sweeps to test out my system with an analyzer and it did great, but I discovered I no longer here anything above 13Khz. My wife made it to 16Khz. I have been a little depressed about it, I remember as a younger listener I was able to hear to 20Khz. So I kind of been thinking what's the point of having a good system? I guess I can quit worrying about whether my system has roll off, I do. Anyone else found out they've been rolled off by mother nature? :tears:
Click to expand...

I would get my hearing tested professionally, you might be finding the limitations of the gear/environment you are testing in....
I wouldn't lose any sleep over it until you actually know what is really going on....
 
Scientific research has proven that mind can compensate really well for 80% hearing loss. You aren't missing anything, a lil less pssssshhh from the hi-hats and cymbals, really not that interesting. Keep enjoying the tunes.

Only thing that annoys is damn tinnitus, but that is something anyone might get, regardless of age.

Did you know that our earlobes keep growing all our lives? Mother nature has its good and bad quirks. :thmbsp:
 
You're doing better than me, I roll off about 12K now, and I've got a bit of tinnitus in my left ear (only hear it when I think about it, like right now) from my days in the military.

Ain't nothing but a thing. I still like what I like, don't like what I don't like, and don't worry about whether or not my system can produce a flat frequency response from DC to daylight. Saves me money, so I do not care.
 
Unfortunately I've seen many pay the price due to simple ignorance. Stuff like shooting guns off without ear protection, etc. Even those people walking around with their iPod and earbuds cranked up, aparently don't understand what they are doing to themselves.

I LOVE to listen to loud music, and I do so often. By simply following the rules of logic and common sense however, I have NEVER once made my ears ring, and as a result don't have any significant hearing loss. Of course, I'm still only 29... :scratch2:
 
I don't think hearing 20k is that important a requirement. Lots of music between 20 and 10k. Try listening to/for "dynamic contrasts" in the music you can hear. You can enjoy that forever.
 
Pandovski said:
Scientific research has proven that mind can compensate really well for 80% hearing loss. You aren't missing anything, a lil less pssssshhh from the hi-hats and cymbals, really not that interesting. Keep enjoying the tunes.

Only thing that annoys is damn tinnitus, but that is something anyone might get, regardless of age.

Did you know that our earlobes keep growing all our lives? Mother nature has its good and bad quirks. :thmbsp:
Click to expand...

Mother Nature is a mean old broad. No hair on my head, but now it emerges in tufts from my ears. Psoriasis is such a pleasant little disease as well. Diabetes? Sure, why the hell not? Maybe some Sarcoidosis to go with that. Oh and those teeth you liked so much? Let's have a couple molars just explode one day for no good reason and leave deep pits right down to the jawbone that never fully heal. Hey, and how about some truly bad eyesight, so the left eye can't even be corrected to 20/20 anymore, and then the doctor tells you cataracts are in your future. Well, it's just a rosy picture, I tell ya.

If I lose a few hertz hearing response, I doubt I even notice it. Every thing I have is falling off or not working anyway. The stuff that is supposed to swell up, doesn't, and the stuff that isn't, does. I can't see my toes, but Hell's Bells, it's OK because I can't feel them anyway.

At this point, I'm in the bonus round, and any day spent above ground is a good day.:D

But I still go to the dojo three nights a week and kick the hell out of everyone I can. Man's gotta have his priorities.
 
You were the fastest olympic swimmer out of your dads ballsack among million of competitors. You deserve a platinum medal for being here. Stop complaining and most important of all

dontpanicoldT1.jpg
 
I've reached the point where I have hearing aids for both ears. Without them I really can't enjoy the music. With the aids, the music sounds great. The improvements in hearing aid technology over the last few years is incredible.
 
The 20-20khz statistic we hear about are theoretical limits. I doubt most of us hear that well.
 
Ths364 said:
The 20-20khz statistic we hear about are theoretical limits. I doubt most of us hear that well.
Click to expand...

And yet we kick the living crap out of each other online over theoretical flat response both above and below what we can theoretically hear anyway.

Funny old world, innit?
 
You aren't missing much even if you can't hear above 13kHz.

You'd be surprised at how low in frequency even the highest pitch musical instrument fundamentals are. Once you get to the double digits, it's all harmonics and pretty high ones at that.

Doug
 
I was actually going to post something along these lines a while back but didn't want to offend anyone. It sure is a cruel trick of nature. As we get older and learn how to listen and what to listen for, we are gradually loosing our hearing.

I use the following to test speakers (and ears), so I feel your pain:

http://onlinetonegenerator.com/

I get a kick when older "more experienced" audiophiles discuss the details they hear from their speakers or knock other speakers because they know better. I always think, yeah but you probably can't hear as well as I do. The same way I can't hear as well as my kids. It's a fact of nature that is undeniable.

Don't get me wrong, I'm firmly in middle age and have done the hearing tests with my teenage kids. They all "roll-off" much later than I do. I actually enlist their ears when I'm comparing speakers to see if they can detect the differences I hear. I'll tell them what instruments or sounds to listen for and ask for their input. It keeps me honest so that I don't let my preferences cloud my comparisons.

I can't deny that they hear better, but I think I listen better.:music:
 
Thats why an audiophile by definition is a person who gets excited and enthusiastic about audio gear, its not about perfect hearing or even trained listening.

We all might as well be deaf and this hobby will persist to exist with no less heated debates about this vs. that.
 
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