Wha? can you hear it?

[With The Grain]

....

[mrob]

Wow!!! I just played the clip, and my wife and I (both over 30, BTW!) could not hear it, while our 2 boys, 3 and 5, heard it just fine--scary!

[tam.audio]

I can hear it, I'm 20. I also took a class in ear training for specific frequencies. It sounds like 16kHz-20kHz. Most people can't hear that high, the human ear can only hear 20Hz-20kHz at birth and becomes a continuously smaller range as you age. I'm surprised that most teenagers can hear it with all the loud music most kids listen too, not to mention those with ridiculous car audio systems with subwoofers.

[NMMB]

I can hear it no problem (even with the volume on my computer turned WAY down) though I have two things that probably make this un-surprising:

1- I am less than a decade out of being a teen ...

2- I have very sensitive ears (I hear a lot of sounds that other people can't hear... and yes, they are real sounds... well, most of the time )

I assume that the reason for this has to do with deterioration of our ears as we age... any Dr.s, Biologists, etc want to give us more details?

[rtaylor61]

I can hear it no problem (even with the volume on my computer turned WAY down) though I have two things that probably make this un-surprising:

1- I am less than a decade out of being a teen ...

2- I have very sensitive ears (I hear a lot of sounds that other people can't hear... and yes, they are real sounds... well, most of the time )

I assume that the reason for this has to do with deterioration of our ears as we age... any Dr.s, Biologists, etc want to give us more details?

Sounds are okay. Voices, on the other hand...

Randy

[Jonnybc]

I can hear it. I'm 38!

[mrob]

My neighbor can hear it and she's 41--I'm guessing my 10 years as a high school band director have contributed to this problem!

[roughrider]

I can hear it perfectly fine.

[phishkabob]

Very interesting. I am a doctoral audiology (hearing & balance) student and one of my professors was interviewed for a follow-up story on this topic/article. The deterioration of very high frequency sensitivity is not always inevitable. We are born with the ability to hear to ~20,000 Hz. With the assault of environmental (loud sounds, ototoxic medications, etc.) and biologic (predisposition to noise-induced hearing loss, renal disease, diabetes, etc.) factors, our hearing typically deteriorates with age. This age-related hearing loss is called presbycusis. Presbycusis starts at the basal end of the cochlea and moves in an apical direction. This means we slowly start losing the ability to hear high frequency (perceived as pitch) sounds, starting with the highest human-perceivable pitches first. There is debate within the audiological community related to the course, exact cause, and inevitability of presbycusis.

Sorry for the long and mostly boring (to most) post. I just get very excited about hearing and sound perception!!!

Sam

[guenron]

I can hear it perfectly fine.

Huh?

[phishkabob]

By the way, my professor who was interviewed for the article said the tone is 16 kHz (16,000 Hz). Good call tam.audio!!!

Sam

[teamacacia]

I am 26 and can hear it without any problems. No presbycusis here...at least not yet.

[vox_rox]

Sorry for the long and mostly boring (to most) post. I just get very excited about hearing and sound perception!!!
Sam

Actually, I find it really intresting. But I have about an 80% hearing loss in one ear, and the typical age-related loss in the other. I cannot hear this sound at all, but others in my office reacted right away, even before being told that anything was playing. I'm 45, but another woman who works in the office who is also in her 40s heard it right away and even claims that the sound induced a headache.

Anyway, the whole audiology thing is pretty fascinating, though it really doesn't help me at all. Still, three is no carved-in-stone formulae for hearing loss.

Peace,

Pierre

[hedliniv]

I really hate that sound, I can hear it fine and wish to break what ever emits that horrible sound!!
FYI - I am 28. I am not a violent man, but that noise drives me insane. I once returned a high-end Pioneer Audio Theatre system when I was 18 because I heard a buzzing the sales person (who was in their 40's)thought I was crazy. This expains why there was a disconnect.... I still won't by any Pioneer product to this day because of that experience.....

George

[Scotto]

Gave me chills down my spine.... <shudder>

[With The Grain]

....

[mrob]

Very interesting. I am a doctoral audiology (hearing & balance) student and one of my professors was interviewed for a follow-up story on this topic/article. The deterioration of very high frequency sensitivity is not always inevitable. We are born with the ability to hear to ~20,000 Hz. With the assault of environmental (loud sounds, ototoxic medications, etc.) and biologic (predisposition to noise-induced hearing loss, renal disease, diabetes, etc.) factors, our hearing typically deteriorates with age. This age-related hearing loss is called presbycusis. Presbycusis starts at the basal end of the cochlea and moves in an apical direction. This means we slowly start losing the ability to hear high frequency (perceived as pitch) sounds, starting with the highest human-perceivable pitches first. There is debate within the audiological community related to the course, exact cause, and inevitability of presbycusis.

Sorry for the long and mostly boring (to most) post. I just get very excited about hearing and sound perception!!!

Sam

Sam,

Not at all boring, and very informative. This is just the kind of info we need to hear--no pun intended! Thanks for the scoop.

[tam.audio]

By the way, my professor who was interviewed for the article said the tone is 16 kHz (16,000 Hz). Good call tam.audio!!!

Sam

Thank God! all that money spent on school wasn't wasted!

[Kyle]

I am 30 and heard it perfectly well.

[KUJO]

I played it backwards and it was actually the voice of Corey Greenberg!