With all my hearing problems, I didn't think I'd hear it, but...

[mijan]

Created by Train Horns

That sound is DAMNED FREAKING ANNOYING.  I'm 28.  How do they figure it's a "teenage" thing to be able to hear high frequencies?

Comments

[solan-t.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't hear them and I am 37. *shrug* But then, I didn't take this test when I was young enough to be expected to hear them.

[solan-t.livejournal.com]

Hrmph. I took that test and could hear it. Barely. I have taken others where I had to go to the 40 year olds to truely hear (rather than feel) the sound.

[lost2mercy.livejournal.com]

I'm 36 and that sound frickin HURT!

On the upside I guess that means my hearing's not bad. :D

[mijan.livejournal.com]

You have super-eardrums! Huzzah!

[xdaemon.livejournal.com]

Because various studies have determined what "normal" is. Everyone has their best hearing in their mid-teens, and it starts degrading after that. The average is that the human hearing range is 20 Hz - 20,000 Hz. When I was 15 I could hear 23,000. Now I'm lucky to hear 18,000. I'm 35.

Part of the degradation is how you have treated your hearing. I spent way too much time during and just after college using power saws without hearing protection. My hearing test results look like the frequency analysis of a chop saw, inverted. (What a saw makes well, I don't hear so well.) You clearly have not spent too much time at raves or in a wood shop.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

At raves - no.

In a wood shop - some.

Dealing with the noise of machine guns and high explosives - yes. I was a combat engineer in the Army. Last summer, I actually slept through two artillery shells being detonated across the street from my bedroom window. They were set off by the psycho ex-boyfriend of our neighbor, who blew up the front end of her car.

(And yeah, I know how they take the averages for hearing ranges. I was being tongue-in-cheek.)

[xdaemon.livejournal.com]

Touche. Always have to be careful replying to someone you don't know WELL or you end up with the wonderful aftertaste of shoe leather.

Last I knew, though, the military was generally careful about hearing protection. Deaf soldiers aren't useful.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

The military has some pretty strict policies about wearing earplugs during drills involving weapons and explosives, but when you get ambushed, you don't get to tell people to stop shooting while you put in your earplugs.

And don't worry about the taste of shoe leather. A little Worcestershire sauce, and it's not so bad. ;)

(Really, don't worry about it. *grins*)

[destinyfroste.livejournal.com]

THAT FUCKING HURT!

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, definitely not pleasant.

How'ya doing? :)

[destinyfroste.livejournal.com]

Eh...I have a little bit of a sinus cold, my back is absolutely KILLING me (causing headaches and nausea) and I just recently completed midterms.

But I am LOVING seeing Europe.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're loving Europe. In my case, I'm just barely getting over a nasty sinus cold, and I finally caved and started seeing a chiropractor for my messed-up aching back, and I'm NOT getting to see Europe. At least I don't have midterms, right?

Post more pics soon? :D

[destinyfroste.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have a ton of pictures from Barcelona, but I was too busy with midterms to rename the files and upload. So I will probably do a Barcelona/Florence update on Monday or Tuesday when I come back from Florence.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

YAY!

[lap-otter.livejournal.com]

When one starts to lose one's hearing, it's the high frequencies that go first. Probably you already knew that, and I'm only saying it to lead into this interesting bit of information: my generation is supposed to be the first to start losing their bass sounds before the higher pitches. Interesting, huh? We're also supposed to have the highest rate of male osteoporosis, which (knowing the way my brothers drink soda) doesn't surprise me in the least.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised by the problem with the loss of hearing in the bass range. But then, I don't listen to music with the base pounding.

I have some hearing loss in the mid-range due to too many ear infections as a baby, actually. And the excessive soda-drinking... yeah... very sad. It's amazing what we do to our bodies.

[elizardbits.livejournal.com]

ARGH WTF THAT IS HORRID. It sounds delightfully like the ringing in my ears. Stupid meniere's. I HATES IT.

[silverrangel.livejournal.com]

my mom's 38, and she couldn't hear it--i guess it's to do with the state of your ears more than your age, and the teenage thing is just a guesstimate?

[hdluff4eva.livejournal.com]

As one gets older, certain hairs on the ear drum bend beyond working ability. Generally the first to go are the hight frequencies, like this one.

[hdluff4eva.livejournal.com]

Oh. That was loud... Frick... I hate that sound... It's like... soundless TV, only ten times worse...

[lunalovegoddess.livejournal.com]

How lovely! The sound is roughly an octave higher than my tinnitus, and is very disorienting. I can feel it in my head. I had to take my vertigo meds to stave off symptoms. I have a vestibular disorder, so this definitely is a trigger. I think part of my hearing loss had to do with frequent ear infections but most of it, I believe, is due to using the weed trimmer. I did not start having vertigo and hearing loss until after I moved to Florida, and I've never used protection for my ears.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Ah. I've got some hearing damage because of ear infections, but clearly it doesn't stop me from hearing the high-pitched whine from this test.

I hope your vertigo gets better!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I couldn't hear anything at all. *iz sad*

[mijan.livejournal.com]

It's okay, you're not missing anything fun. *rubs ears* BELIEVE ME.

[oboros.livejournal.com]

It's a very soft high pitch that I kinda have to strain to hear. I'm 39½.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Wow, that means you're still clinging to those last super-high-pitch hair receptors. Cool!

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

How do they figure it's a "teenage" thing to be able to hear high frequencies?

Perhaps because teenagers tend to destroy their hearing by listening to too loud music, and by the time they're in their twenties, the range of frequency they're able to hear is gretly reduced? (Or because aging makes the bones or whatever in your ear less flexible.) Btw, it sounds like the glitch-sound in those blotched mp3s I downloaded yesterday. :/

[karala.livejournal.com]

I can hear! Though I'm only 22. There's more to it than just that one, there a series of them (http://www.teenbuzz.org/) to... scroll down the page and test it out. =D I can hear all of them very lowly, but until the 16 kHz they aren't really high and annoying sounding (I should be able to hear better than that at my age). =/

It all stared with a device called Buzz Off (http://www.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/mosquito-ringtone-335321.html) in Britian that's had legal action against it because it was designed to drive teenagers away from older people with its high frequency.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

The idea of driving away teenagers sounds lovely, but what about the adults who happen to simply have a higher audio range? I admit, I'd be pissed if it were me.

I think I'm going to have to go research the legal cases against it to see what people were saying. Thanks for the info!