Which is the highest frequency that You can hear? Options

[BoraBora]

13kHz. I think I hear something at 14kHz but it's so faint I can't be sure. 53 years old.

This is more in line with my age than the 1rst test. Now I know I was hearing aliasing. Too bad!

[extrabigmehdi]

13kHz. I think I hear something at 14kHz but it's so faint I can't be sure. 53 years old.

This is more in line with my age than the 1rst test. Now I know I was hearing aliasing. Too bad!

I guess all senses are affected by aging ...

[derty2]

15 kHz definitely, 16 kHz barely, 17+ kHz nothing .
Noisy PC, Windows XP, Realtek audio driver, foobar2000 with Kernel Streaming output .
Over 40 years old.

[KMD]

I posted a warning before but I'll post again. Is it really a good idea to play a 20Khz sine wave into an amp and speakers an then turn the volume up. The tweeters will be destroyed.

This post has been edited by KMD: Feb 29 2012, 10:28

[onkl]

You're NOT supposed to turn the volume up.

[Splat]

Wow, am I the only one who can hear 22kHz ?

I`m 31 years old.

The 22kHz sample is very quiet, but i can still hear it.

It sounds similar to the tone that i hear if i'm on a very silent environment, its just a bit louder.
Maybe I have some kind of tinitus, but it's so damn low in volume that i only hear it in very silent places.

Now I am interested if other peoples hear high frequency tones too in places with very low noise.

[greynol]

Did you perform an ABX test between the clip of silence and the clip of 22kHz?

[Pri3st]

16 khz 32 years old.

[IgorC]

Did you perform an ABX test between the clip of silence and the clip of 22kHz?

ABX between silence.wav and particular tone is useless. xkHz.wav has a loud click at begining and in the end of file while silence has not.

when I get home I will make a new silence.wav with the same clicks and inbetween silence .

[greynol]

The click should go away if you your tone samples fade in and out.

I mentioned this in the original poll:

There are clicks when the samples start and stop which could probably be eliminated by creating ones that ramp up and down.

...as well as in this one:

I wish they were faded in and out, hopefully to help avoid clicking, but that's a different matter.

[IgorC]

Hm, yes, the fading is a better solution.
If You have time to make a new files then I will be only glad as I can't in this moment. Thank You for previous add to OP.

I think we're getting closer to get more usable results than all previous polls like this one.

This post has been edited by IgorC: Mar 1 2012, 03:15

[greynol]

It's done.

I also changed the contents of the readme file to:

Note:
Please perform the test at your NORMAL listening level. These samples are already FAR louder than they would occur in regular music.

Again, feel free to PM me for any additional changes. While there may possibly be a few incorrect votes, I think we can continue rather than start over. If enough people feel that the poll should start over again then that is easily handled.

[extrabigmehdi]

Well, with latest files, I managed to ABX 18 khz from silence, which is better than the 17 khz I've initially selected on the poll.
However with 19 khz I give up, I'm not even trying to guess on the ABX test, it's just the same.

The volume was set at a level , I usually listen to music.

[greynol]

To be perfectly clear, all that changed in each sample was the length the fade in and the fade out. The level and frequency remained unchanged. Feel free to verify the new files against the old ones if you like.

[extrabigmehdi]

yes, the fade in/out is important , to avoid the obvious pop when starting to play , and to do a fair ABX test.

[IgorC]

Wow, am I the only one who can hear 22kHz ?

I`m 31 years old.

Can You perform ABX test with 22kHz file and silence.wav (updated files*) at normal volume and with precaution for sampling rate (see OP) ?

* the only update is fade in and out of the tones to avoid the clicks.

This post has been edited by IgorC: Mar 2 2012, 17:27

[Splat]

Finished with the new files

CODE

foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v1.1.7
2012/03/02 17:17:29

File A: C:\Users\Martin\Desktop\Hearing_maximum_frequency_test\22kHz.wav
File B: C:\Users\Martin\Desktop\Hearing_maximum_frequency_test\Silence.wav

17:17:29 : Test started.
17:18:23 : 01/01  50.0%
17:18:52 : 02/02  25.0%
17:19:58 : 03/03  12.5%
17:20:49 : 04/04  6.3%
17:24:00 : 05/05  3.1%
17:24:50 : 06/06  1.6%
17:26:20 : 07/07  0.8%
17:26:47 : 08/08  0.4%
17:27:32 : 09/09  0.2%
17:28:34 : 10/10  0.1%
17:29:47 : 11/11  0.0%
17:49:47 : Test finished.

----------
Total: 11/11 (0.0%)

All DSP's were disabled and i has set my soundcard (Envy24HF) to 48kHz to avoid resampling.

Soundcard: Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1LT
Reciever: Denon AVR2105 (connected via SP/DIF, Volume at -34dB)
Speaker: Kef IQ7se

This post has been edited by Splat: Mar 2 2012, 17:50

[greynol]

If you're running Windows Vista or 7, did you make sure that it was set at 48kHz, per the note in the initial post? Or is there something in fb2k to override it as there at least used to be with WinXP?

Also, I do have the ability to change the results of the poll, so if anyone wants to change their vote, send me a PM.

This post has been edited by greynol: Mar 2 2012, 18:13

[Qtax]

28 years old in a noisy environment (PC noise, some traffic) with open headphones:

CODE

X        = "Normal" music listening volume.
           Can add 6dB or more depending on mood and music type
           (that is "normal" is X+6dB in those cases).
X + 18dB = Not unusual that I listen to tracks that I like at this volume

X +  0dB: 18 kHz
X +  6dB: 19 kHz
X + 16dB: 20 kHz
X + 18dB: 21 kHz
X + 28dB: 22 kHz (10/10 ABX)

What should I vote? :-p

[greynol]

Part of the request not to boost the volume is to save your speakers/headphones, and most importantly, your hearing. The levels in those files are already insanely high compared to normal music, perhaps 20dB louder if not much much more.

After exposure to grossly high levels of these samples, you might find that you can't hear them anymore.

I'll leave it up to others as to how you should vote.

[Qtax]

The levels in those files are already insanely high compared to normal music, perhaps 20dB louder if not much much more.

I don't think so. They are about +5dB to -1dB louder than other tracks on my playlist. According to ReplayGain anyway, and I think that's about right.

This post has been edited by Qtax: Mar 2 2012, 18:57

[greynol]

<sigh>

It should read, "compared the levels of those frequencies in normal music."

Pure tones and music are two completely different things. Have you tried a high pass filter 8 kHz on normal music and listened to the result? If so did you find the level to be comparable to these test samples? Try filtering again at 12 kHz and then at 14 kHz.

Finally, ReplayGain is not an appropriate metric to gauge the loudness of high frequencies since the algorithm was designed to closely mimic the human ear which is more sensitive to mid-range frequencies than it is upper-treble frequencies.

I was hoping the initial warning would have appealed to common sense.

This post has been edited by greynol: Mar 3 2012, 19:48

[bandpass]

The test files have some artefacts due to improper fading; also the silence file is not dithered but the others are.

Here's some shell-script to create a set of artefact-free files:

CODE

for f in 0 $(seq 8 23); do
  sox -n -b16 ${f}kHz.wav synth sin ${f}k vol .5 fade h .25 5 .25
done

or just run sox manually. 0kHz.wav is dithered silence.

[extrabigmehdi]

also the silence file is not dithered but the others are.

I might miss something, but I don't think silence needs a special encoding

artefacts due to improper fading

Sorry, but I thought that fading was a basic operation. I didn't know it would need special care (at least regarding artefacts)

This post has been edited by extrabigmehdi: Mar 3 2012, 01:07

[pururin]

After exposure to grossly high levels of these samples, you might find that you can't hear them anymore.

Could you please approximately compare the "grossly high levels" to some sound in real life?
Maybe about as loud as in movie theatres, or less?

Not sure because at times I listen to music quite really loud.
I'm afraid if I'm already deaf by now after tried listening to 17khz like 6-8 times and 18khz more like 10 times and some few more

18Khz btw, age 25.
wasapi exclusive mode, no resampling.