On-line free hearing test

[wgscott]

You can test both ears, and individual ears.

 

Your Hearing Test, Online | Calibrated, Reliable and Free

 

Post your results if you wish.

[wgscott]

Mine:

 

Both:

 

Right:

 

Left:

 

My right ear feels a wee bit congested, but I have a dip at 4K in my left ear (I checked 3 times to see if it is real).

[odelay]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to try it as soon as I muster up the courage...

[wgscott]

Were are all the golden ears that can hear differences between silver and copper wires?

[mansr]

Were are all the golden ears that can hear differences between silver and copper wires?

 

Tests like this are far too stressful for their sensitive psyches.

[odelay]

 

How hard are you supposed to rub your fingers together? Does vigorously mean as fast as you can? ;-)

 

If so, I imagine we can all get pretty flattering results... My first effort was much worse... but re-calibrated... putting more effort into it... Gaming the system? Who me?

[wgscott]

Sorry, should have been "Where are all the golden-ears ...?"

[wgscott]

[ATTACH]24693[/ATTACH]

 

How hard are you supposed to rub your fingers together? Does vigorously mean as fast as you can? ;-)

 

If so, I imagine we can all get pretty flattering results... My first effort was much worse... but re-calibrated... putting more effort into it... Gaming the system? Who me?

 

I don't know. I think differences of ±10 aren't that meaningful. I am more worried about a 4KHz dip in my left ear hearing response, which was reproducible (I kept trying to make it go away but could not). I was originally worried my right ear was inferior to my left, but I don't think the differences I measured are meaningful.

[odelay]

I hear you wgscott. But looking at your results again, the differences aren't so large. I guess you could get a second opinion from another online test if you're worried?

 

With a lower volume, I seemed to have a 'bump' at 1kH in one ear. I wondered if that matched with the spectrum frequency sweep I did while setting up my subwoofer a few years ago?

 

Thanks for posting the test. It's good to bring our so called 'golden ears' down a peg or too from time to time [emoji106]?

[wgscott]

bump

[esldude]

I did test my ears and I can hear from both of them. Don't need any propeller head test to confirm it.

 

In the days before AC was common in cars, I have read most men had a 3-4 khz dip in the left ear. Presuming it was from noise driving with the window down. Don't even know if it's true.

 

On the other hand being a biker it could be from cars passing on the left while blowing their horn. Or just traffic noise on your left.

[wgscott]

I hate air conditioning and almost always drive with the window down. Holy fucking shit. I ruined my hearing from driving!

[esldude]

I hate air conditioning and almost always drive with the window down. Holy fucking shit. I ruined my hearing from driving!

At least you aren't like Sal. He rides those awful Harley Davidsons and ruined both ears.

 

So now the real philosophical quandry. Do you EQ to fix the left ear or does that make all sound unnatural to your damaged hearing?

 

Or to put it differently, if you're in the forest and a tree falls it sounds different if on your left vs right. Does this mean for you there is no Absolute Sound?

[wgscott]

Looks like my right ear is trying to compensate. So maybe I need to equalize the right hand side too?

[Kal Rubinson]

I don't know. I think differences of ±10 aren't that meaningful. I am more worried about a 4KHz dip in my left ear hearing response, which was reproducible (I kept trying to make it go away but could not). I was originally worried my right ear was inferior to my left, but I don't think the differences I measured are meaningful.

Agreed. There are more precise tests available. Here's one: Hearing Test Products and Tinnitus Test Products

[audiventory]

Hi Wgscott,

 

Thank you for link.

[bluesman]

I don't know. I think differences of ±10 aren't that meaningful.

That depends on where you start. The pure tone threshold below which most people notice a loss of sensitivity is about 30 db. So if you drop from 0 to 10 db below, it's not clinically relevant. But if you drop from 25 to 35db below, you'll almost certainly notice a decrease in sensitivity. Similarly, there's a sensitivity limit below which a traditional hearing aid is of little use, because they can only provide so much gain. A severe hearing loss is defined in part by pure tone thresholds between 70 and 95 db, with profound starting at 95. If you drop 10 db from 65 to 75, you'll get less benefit from your hearing aid. And if you drop from 90 to 100, you'll probably get little or no benefit at all from a traditional aid that was helping you before that last 10db loss.

 

If your speech discrimination is impaired (which is not usually caused by noise damage or other inner ear problems - it's usually an auditory nerve or central auditory processing problem), a decline of 10 db can seriously affect your ability to hear and understand speech even if your pure tone thresholds are not grossly elevated.

 

Automated testing is pretty consistent - so a 10 db difference in these online tests is probably real, assuming half decent equipment. Here's the confidence interval on a well done study of automated vs manual audiometry: "The largest overall average absolute difference across frequencies was 3.6 +/- 3.9 dB for the normal-hearing group and 3.3 +/- 2.4 for the hearing-impaired group." So even $25 ear buds and a PC should give consistent results, whether or not they're accurate. But it's hard to calibrate this kind of system to achieve absolute SPLs with audiometric precision, and ambient noise is a signficant confounder that's eliminated in a certified test booth. So absolute references to 0 db are not as reliable as relative differences from frequency to frequency and between ears.

[wgscott]

Sorry, what I meant was that the absolute value on the vertical axis probably isn't reliable, within the confines of this particular on-line test, where the absolute value is calibrated by clapping into the computer's microphone.

[bluesman]

Sorry, what I meant was that the absolute value on the vertical axis probably isn't reliable, within the confines of this particular on-line test, where the absolute value is calibrated by clapping into the computer's microphone.

Right! As for that 4k dip, it's classic for noise induced sensitivity loss although there are some much less common causes. There's another phenomenon called recruitment that is also typical of cochlear damage. Defined as "abnormal growth of loudness", it's a reduction in your dynamic range from quietest detectable sound to maximum perceived loudness, and it occurs when your threshold sensitivity is elevated but your maximum comfortable loudness level is not. What it means in practical terms is that if you recruit, you perceive loud sounds normally even though the quietest sound you can detect has to be louder than "normal". And if you recruit to functional normalcy at ~70+ db, the ability to hear music normally is essentially unaffected by a threshold sensitivity loss.

 

An audiologist would carry out a full battery of tests to determine with accuracy how well you hear from the bottom to the top of your auditory dynamic range (at least within the limits of 125 to 8kHz, which is the range within which routine audiometry is done). There are some audiology clinics set up to do expanded range testing, so if you search a bit you can probably find a place to go for a full frequency spectrum assessment of your hearing.

[Kal Rubinson]

Sorry, what I meant was that the absolute value on the vertical axis probably isn't reliable, within the confines of this particular on-line test, where the absolute value is calibrated by clapping into the computer's microphone.

 

Absolute values are not important unless the losses are substantial. The best and most consistent home results I got suing the Audio-CD test CD were obtained with calibrated closed earphones and by changing homes. The ambient noise in my CT house is about -20dB compared to my NYC apartment!