Sound Speakers & Hearing
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Piemaster
Guru
- Location
- UK City of Culture
Are there ferrite beads or rings on the speaker cable? It may help with the buzz, it may not. Link
Human hearing is usually something like 20-20000Hz. It falls off as you get older, hence why those mosquito gadget things that are used to discourage youths to not congregate in areas. Teenagers can hear them but most adults past 20 can't.
Your range appears good, your wife...less so. But I've not much more than layman knowledge. Has she worked in an industrial environment or still hitting the clubs?
May be worth getting it tested properly, I'll be having it done shortly. Sit in a soundproof booth having tones played on headphones in your ears and pressing a button when you hear it. I'm supposed to get 12 hours 'noise rest' beforehand.
Human hearing is usually something like 20-20000Hz. It falls off as you get older, hence why those mosquito gadget things that are used to discourage youths to not congregate in areas. Teenagers can hear them but most adults past 20 can't.
Your range appears good, your wife...less so. But I've not much more than layman knowledge. Has she worked in an industrial environment or still hitting the clubs?
May be worth getting it tested properly, I'll be having it done shortly. Sit in a soundproof booth having tones played on headphones in your ears and pressing a button when you hear it. I'm supposed to get 12 hours 'noise rest' beforehand.
Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
50hz hum usually means that the speaker cables are too close to mains cables.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
The 50Hz hum could be due to shielding between the speakers and the amplifier if they've crammed the amp into the same box.
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
[QUOTE 4205965, member: 9609"]
One thing that we did learn from the hearing test was there must be someting amis with the wife's hearing, she can't hear anything above about 10,500hz ... is this unusual, or am I unusual in being able to hear all the way up to 18500 (we're both mid 50s)[/QUOTE]
We all lose hearing range from the high end as we get older. I once went to a bat evening with a very mixed audience. Families with young children and teenagers, middle-agers and older people. The presenter had a signal generator that he switched on and dialed up to show what humans can hear and what bats can hear. Obviously no humans could hear the bat signals but what was interesting was that he asked everyone to raise their hands each time he plays a signal and you can hear it. At low frequencies everyone's hands went up. As it went up and up, the hands in the air were from younger and younger people until eventually, only the really young children could hear the higher frequencies. I lost it at about 14000Hz but my friend one year younger than me only got up to 10000 Hz. This explained his behaviour when we go bird watching. I can hear the little birds tweet, he can't.
One thing that we did learn from the hearing test was there must be someting amis with the wife's hearing, she can't hear anything above about 10,500hz ... is this unusual, or am I unusual in being able to hear all the way up to 18500 (we're both mid 50s)[/QUOTE]
We all lose hearing range from the high end as we get older. I once went to a bat evening with a very mixed audience. Families with young children and teenagers, middle-agers and older people. The presenter had a signal generator that he switched on and dialed up to show what humans can hear and what bats can hear. Obviously no humans could hear the bat signals but what was interesting was that he asked everyone to raise their hands each time he plays a signal and you can hear it. At low frequencies everyone's hands went up. As it went up and up, the hands in the air were from younger and younger people until eventually, only the really young children could hear the higher frequencies. I lost it at about 14000Hz but my friend one year younger than me only got up to 10000 Hz. This explained his behaviour when we go bird watching. I can hear the little birds tweet, he can't.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I have lost my high frequencies AND selective frequencies in the upper mid-range.
When I was young, I used to find the high-pitched whistling tone from TVs really annoying. That frequency was 15.625 kHz. I would be blissfully unaware of it now.
When a student in Manchester over 30 years ago, I walked into a music shop and was pole-axed by a very loud, very high-pitched sound. I complained to the manager and he apologised - somebody had left an ultrasonic motion detector on but they couldn't hear it.
I was working with some digital audio equipment once and created havoc in the open plan office. My gear was connected through a powerful amp to some very efficient speakers. Apparently, the audio processor had crashed and was outputting a very powerful tone beyond my range of hearing which was distressing every young pair of ears within range!
After that latter episode, I did a DIY hearing test using a tone generator and a pair of high quality headphones. I swept the tone from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and plotted the results. I saw the expected HF rolloff, but was shocked to discover that I was deaf at certain intermediate frequencies! I was paying the price for ignoring warnings about listening to music at very levels when I was a teenager.
I find it very difficult to hear what certain people are saying, whereas others are perfectly ok. I have concluded that it depends on what frequencies the formants in their voices are located at. If they happen to coincide with the notches in my hearing response then I struggle.
Considering the time I spent working in clubs during the 90s I got a pretty good result on the hearing test. I used to have either a radio or earplugs in my ears, so that would have helped immensely. Whilst shooting, I always use plugs designed to block the frequency of the bang, but to allow talking to be heard.
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
I learn something new every day. Formants is now part of my vocab and tonight I shall use it thus: "Darling, change your formant, I cannot figure out what the hell you are saying." Sadly this is true. I have to look at some people before I can "hear" them. It isn't the volume, but something else. Formants I suspect.
BTW, how did you pinpoint the TV's high-pitch sound at that frequency?
I wonder what the frequency of that ultrasound alarm was? It sounds seems as if you have bat ears. I had an ultrasonic cleaner in my workshop that really upset some customers yet I was blissfully unaware that it made anything other than a buzzing sound from the metal bits inside being rattled.
Smokin Joe
Squire
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
Pardon?
What was that? Speak up for Christ's sake.
What was that? Speak up for Christ's sake.
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
IS THAT BETTER?
Smokin Joe
Squire
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
Twenty past eleven.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
UK PAL TV standard - 625 lines at 25 frames per second. 625 * 25 = 15,625 Hz. It was usually the line output transformer making the noise.
I certainly don't have bat ears any more. I would be surprised if I could even hear 10 kHz now!
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
[QUOTE 4206322, member: 9609"]try this
http://onlinetonegenerator.com/hearingtest.html
I get a quiet patch between 12500 and 13500 and then again around 16000. (even my poorest speakers will do 14K) speakers seem to be very imited with low frequencies.[/QUOTE]
The thing is, you need good speakers or headphones to make sure that they are not part of the problem! When I tested my hearing at work I was using a pair of expensive studio monitoring headphones (I think they were a pair of upmarket Beyer Dynamic phones) and a calibrated tone generator from our test department so I knew the gear was good. I also cross-checked by plotting the response curve for a younger colleague with good hearing.)
Still, I'll give it a go using the cheap pair of headphones next to me. (My expensive ones are up 2 flights of stairs and I can't be bothered to go up to get them!)
http://onlinetonegenerator.com/hearingtest.html
I get a quiet patch between 12500 and 13500 and then again around 16000. (even my poorest speakers will do 14K) speakers seem to be very imited with low frequencies.[/QUOTE]
The thing is, you need good speakers or headphones to make sure that they are not part of the problem! When I tested my hearing at work I was using a pair of expensive studio monitoring headphones (I think they were a pair of upmarket Beyer Dynamic phones) and a calibrated tone generator from our test department so I knew the gear was good. I also cross-checked by plotting the response curve for a younger colleague with good hearing.)
Still, I'll give it a go using the cheap pair of headphones next to me. (My expensive ones are up 2 flights of stairs and I can't be bothered to go up to get them!)
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Hmm ... that was actually both scary AND interesting! I think I had better try again later using my good headphones because this pair definitely do NOT have a flat response curve.
My hearing is not well-matched between the two ears. As the frequency swept up, the sound panned across my head, disappeared and then came back again in both ears. That fits in with the experience that I have in everyday life. I sometimes find it hard to work out where certain sounds are coming from.
I was pretty shocked that my hearing dropped right off at 3 kHz, which is at the upper end of the frequencies important to speech. The sound came back again at about 4 kHz and then got very loud at about 6 kHz, which I suspect was due to resonance in my cheap phones. As expected, I couldn't hear anything above 10 kHz.
I was about to go out on my bike but my curiosity has been aroused - I'm going upstairs for the good headphones ...
My hearing is not well-matched between the two ears. As the frequency swept up, the sound panned across my head, disappeared and then came back again in both ears. That fits in with the experience that I have in everyday life. I sometimes find it hard to work out where certain sounds are coming from.
I was pretty shocked that my hearing dropped right off at 3 kHz, which is at the upper end of the frequencies important to speech. The sound came back again at about 4 kHz and then got very loud at about 6 kHz, which I suspect was due to resonance in my cheap phones. As expected, I couldn't hear anything above 10 kHz.
I was about to go out on my bike but my curiosity has been aroused - I'm going upstairs for the good headphones ...
