Given the popularity of age related audiological tests on You Tube, does age related hearing loss actually matters in practice?
By: Ringo Bones
As a true blue audiophile, you may have already checked out those You Tube channels that has audiological tests designed to determine the so-called age of your ears. Whether via click-bait or the fact that the de-facto audio bandwidth of You Tube doesn’t go beyond 16,000 Hz, those tests are just too intriguing to ignore. Whether it gave you a sobering realization that there are sound frequencies you can no longer hear now, unlike back when you are still 18, probably got you cringing after spending 10,000 US dollars on a hi-fi loudspeaker you can finally afford but has doubts whether your ears are “healthy” enough to appreciate them, fear not because there are others like me who now harbors doubts whether age related hearing loss really matter in practice – as in real life listening to audio systems and live concert events.
Virtually all acoustic / audio related literature and online fact-sites lists the human auditory range – i.e. the frequency of sounds we can hear – at 20 Hz (lowest frequency) to 20,000 Hz (highest frequency often abbreviated to 20 KHz) give or take a few hertz up or below this. Sadly, age related hearing loss is an inescapable fact of life. But have you noticed how the tests are done – i.e. using low distortion sine waves, usually below 0.1 percent THD – and they are quite revealing when if you are in your mid to late 40s and you can no longer hear those high frequency sine waves above 15,000 Hz. Sobering, yes, but does it matter in real life? Let me cite a couple of broad examples.
As the lockdown eased in my neighborhood a month ago and our local hi fi store started demoing its latest stock of Focal Kanta Number 2 loudspeakers, it sounded quite impressive when playing Chesky audiophile LPs. But when a Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab reissue of Saturday Night Fever soundtrack LP was played in the VPI turntable, most listeners – i.e. audiophiles who turned 18 back in 1975 and who are now in their 60s – complained that the Bee Gees sounded “too bright” when played to the Focal Kanta speakers while those listeners under 25 years of age where impressed on how the Focals sound as if there were cymbals and horns playing in the hi fi store. Given that those older folks – who even probably old enough to have actually been in a Bee Gees concert back in the 1970s complained on how the Kanta sounded too bright despite of their age related hearing degradation preferring instead on 1970s era JBLs or Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater speakers, while the younger listeners were awed by the way the Focal Kantas sound as if the cymbals and horns were actually playing live in the hi fi store, instead of a playback from an LP only highlights my doubts on how age related hearing loss really plays out in practice. And another thing, if age related hearing loss really does matter in practice, how come drummers 50 years and older not ditching their Zildjian cymbals for brighter sounding Paiste cymbals? As long as your presbycusis – i.e. age related hearing loss – doesn’t prevent you from having a normal conversation with your fellow human being, it’s probably best to just sit back and enjoy the music or the concert.
