Do I hear 6Hz sound?

[hdo]

Do I hear 6Hz sound?

 

To find out my hearing sound frequency range, I tried several software function generators. My upper hearing range is up to 14khz. After that I cannot hear. The lower frequency range is rather problematic in that I hear down to 6hz sine wave sound generated using Audacity. This is too good to be true! At 6Hz, I hear sound comming from a helicopter moving away from a far distance. I used plain 24/192khz DAC and headphones to hear.

 

My theory is that I may hear decorated impure sine wave sound. That is, sound also contains other audible frequency sound. Is there anyway I can test correctly?

[mayhem13]

Do I hear 6Hz sound?

 

To find out my hearing sound frequency range, I tried several software function generators. My upper hearing range is up to 14khz. After that I cannot hear. The lower frequency range is rather problematic in that I hear down to 6hz sine wave sound generated using Audacity. This is too good to be true! At 6Hz, I hear sound comming from a helicopter moving away from a far distance. I used plain 24/192khz DAC and headphones to hear.

 

My theory is that I may hear decorated impure sine wave sound. That is, sound also contains other audible frequency sound. Is there anyway I can test correctly?

 

What headphones did you use to produce 6hz ?

[sandyk]

It mustn't be a pure 6HZ sinewave.

The AT W1000 is claimed to go down to 5HZ, but they don't give how many dB down the response is at that frequency. (surprise, surprise !)

 

 

Audio frequency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_frequency

 

The generally accepted standard range of audible frequencies is 20 to 20,000 Hz, although the range of frequencies individuals hear is greatly influenced by environmental factors. Frequencies below 20 Hz are generally felt rather than heard, assuming the amplitude of the vibration is great enough.

 

Hearing range - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_range

 

The commonly stated range of human hearing is 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Under ideal laboratory conditions, humans can hear sound as low as 12 Hz. Humans are most sensitive to (i.e. able to discern at lowest intensity) frequencies between 2,000 and 5,000 Hz.

[Skeptic]

You will be hearing the headphones distort when sent a 6Hz signal.

They won't be reproducing 6Hz accurately.

 

It's the same issue with people claiming to hear sounds >30kHz.

You hear distortion artifacts in the audible range from playing sounds beyond what your system is capable of, not those frequencies.

[davide256]

you can't hear sounds below 20hz, you can only feel them as a pressure wave. This direct to disc organ recording has a 12hz pedal tone that can shake objects

off shelves in the rooms above and below you if you have a system capable of reproducing it

 

http://www.amazon.com/Virgil-Direct-Tocacata-Fugue-Touch/dp/B0017GSHWY

[audiventory]

Super low frequencies we can listen/feel as vibrations. Depend on level.

[gmgraves]

Do I hear 6Hz sound?

 

To find out my hearing sound frequency range, I tried several software function generators. My upper hearing range is up to 14khz. After that I cannot hear. The lower frequency range is rather problematic in that I hear down to 6hz sine wave sound generated using Audacity. This is too good to be true! At 6Hz, I hear sound comming from a helicopter moving away from a far distance. I used plain 24/192khz DAC and headphones to hear.

 

My theory is that I may hear decorated impure sine wave sound. That is, sound also contains other audible frequency sound. Is there anyway I can test correctly?

 

 

What you are hearing is doubtless merely the distortion caused by non-linearities of the headphone's diaphragm causing it to break-up in the presence of a 6 Hz sine wave and producing harmonics that don't really exist in the signal that you are feeding the 'phones. A transducer must act like a perfect piston at low frequencies in order to produce a really low frequency sine wave without distorting it. No speaker that I've ever heard can do that (so they limit speakers' low-end response to around 16 Hz or higher), Even fewer headphones can actually reproduce frequencies that low (HiFiMan says that the US$3000 HE-1000s are good down to 8 Hz, but I seriously doubt that they could reproduce a clean sine wave at that frequency and you couldn't "hear" it if they did).

[chaosrealm93]

you "feel" frequencies below 20hz

[hdo]

What you are hearing is doubtless merely the distortion caused by non-linearities of the headphone's diaphragm causing it to break-up in the presence of a 6 Hz sine wave and producing harmonics that don't really exist in the signal that you are feeding the 'phones. A transducer must act like a perfect piston at low frequencies in order to produce a really low frequency sine wave without distorting it. No speaker that I've ever heard can do that (so they limit speakers' low-end response to around 16 Hz or higher), Even fewer headphones can actually reproduce frequencies that low (HiFiMan says that the US$3000 HE-1000s are good down to 8 Hz, but I seriously doubt that they could reproduce a clean sine wave at that frequency and you couldn't "hear" it if they did).

 

At 6Hz, I can hear some sound and feel throbing. The funny thing is that at 5Hz, I don't hear sound but feel throbing. I think there is difficulty in producing perfect pure sine wave. Of course, using Audacity. Other function generators produce much worse signals. I can hear lots of noise from them.

[Tony Lauck]

At 6Hz, I can hear some sound and feel throbing. The funny thing is that at 5Hz, I don't hear sound but feel throbing. I think there is difficulty in producing perfect pure sine wave. Of course, using Audacity. Other function generators produce much worse signals. I can hear lots of noise from them.

 

Be glad you don't live near to a windmill. You may not hear the infrasonics, but they may make you sick.

 

My system won't play a 20 Hz tone cleanly at a level that I can hear. If I turn up the volume enough then I can hear the doubling. I can hear a clean 30 Hz sine wave. Given that the speakers are designed to go only down to 30 Hz this is not surprising, plus my hearing thresholds have probably elevated over the years.

[ilok]

When I had a subwoofer, 10hz is inaudible but made the house shake like an earthquake. You are probably hearing 6hz harmonics, try play 24,30,36hz, etc.

[hdo]

More testing reveals a pattern. At normal volume level, 20hz sound is a bit weaker than 30hz sound. But still robust. At 10Hz, sound is quite weak. At 6hz, sound is barely audible. With higher volume, I can hear down to 4hz, although sound is barely audible. I wonder whether this volume level variation is built in Audacity. If not, hearing must deteriorate "gradually".

[Allan F]

More testing reveals a pattern. At normal volume level, 20hz sound is a bit weaker than 30hz sound. But still robust. At 10Hz, sound is quite weak. At 6hz, sound is barely audible. With higher volume, I can hear down to 4hz, although sound is barely audible. I wonder whether this volume level variation is built in Audacity. If not, hearing must deteriorate "gradually".

 

As has been pointed out by several others, it is most unlikely if not impossible, that you are hearing the actual fundamentals of 4hz, 6Hz, or 10hz.