Hearing tests depending on age. Methods of medical and self-testing of hearing

The topic of audio is worth talking about human hearing in a little more detail. How subjective is our perception? Is it possible to have your hearing tested? Today you will learn the easiest way to find out whether your hearing fully corresponds to the table values.

It is known that the average person is able to perceive acoustic waves with the organs of hearing in the range from 16 to 20,000 Hz (depending on the source - 16,000 Hz). This range is called the audible range.

20 Hz	A hum that is only felt, but not heard. It is reproduced mainly by top-end audio systems, so in case of silence it is the one to blame
30 Hz	If you can’t hear, most likely there are playback problems again
40 Hz	It will be audible in budget and mid-price speakers. But it's very quiet
50 Hz	The hum of electric current. Must be audible
60 Hz	Audible (like everything up to 100 Hz, rather tangible due to reflection from the auditory canal) even through the cheapest headphones and speakers
100 Hz	The end of the low frequencies. Beginning of direct audibility range
200 Hz	Mid frequencies
500 Hz
1 kHz
2 kHz
5 kHz	Beginning of high frequency range
10 kHz	If this frequency is not heard, serious hearing problems are likely. Doctor's consultation required
12 kHz	Inability to hear this frequency may indicate an early stage of hearing loss.
15 kHz	A sound that some people over 60 cannot hear
16 kHz	Unlike the previous one, this frequency is not heard by almost all people after 60 years of age
17 kHz	Frequency is problematic for many already in middle age
18 kHz	Problems with hearing this frequency are the beginning of age-related changes in hearing. Now you are an adult. :)
19 kHz	Limit frequency of average hearing
20 kHz	Only children can hear this frequency. Is it true

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This test is enough to give you a rough estimate, but if you can't hear sounds above 15 kHz, you should see a doctor.

Please note that the low frequency audibility problem is most likely related to .

Most often, the inscription on the box in the style of “Reproducible range: 1–25,000 Hz” is not even marketing, but an outright lie on the part of the manufacturer.

Unfortunately, companies are not required to certify all audio systems, so it is almost impossible to prove that this is a lie. Speakers or headphones may reproduce boundary frequencies... The question is how and at what volume.

Spectrum issues above 15 kHz are a fairly common age-related phenomenon that users are likely to encounter. But 20 kHz (the same ones that audiophiles fight so hard for) is usually heard only by children under 8–10 years old.

It is enough to listen to all files sequentially. For a more detailed study, you can play samples, starting with the minimum volume, gradually increasing it. This will allow you to get a more correct result if your hearing is already slightly damaged (remember that to perceive some frequencies you need to exceed a certain threshold value, which, as it were, opens and helps the hearing aid to hear it).

Do you hear the entire frequency range that is capable of?

Hearing impairment is one of the main signs indicating pathological processes occurring in the ear. It is important to note the appearance of this symptom in time and consult an otolaryngologist, because many diseases require qualified and timely treatment, and delay in therapy can lead to hearing loss. What hearing testing methods are there? Is it possible to diagnose it yourself?

Classifications of pathology and its causes

The general term “hearing loss” is classified by specialists into several groups.

According to the prognosis, hearing loss may be:

reversible, that is, temporary. Most often, such hearing impairments are caused by inflammatory processes in the ear or in the auditory tube;
irreversible. Such hearing impairments occur due to the death of receptors in the inner ear, irreparable damage to the auditory nerves, or pathologies of the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for receiving sound information.

Hearing loss can also be divided into 2 groups, based on the cause that caused this disorder.

Sound conduction disorder

Pathologies of this group are localized in the parts of the hearing organ - the outer, middle and inner ear. Sound vibrations from the external environment do not reach the brain because in one of the areas of the hearing organ a certain disease or condition does not allow them to pass through the chain:

in the outer ear, such diseases and conditions may include otitis media, a foreign body in the ear canal, or cerumen plug;
in the middle ear, acute, exudative and chronic otitis media, myringitis and tubootitis can interfere with the passage of sound vibrations;
In the inner ear, labyrinthitis can lead to disruption of sound transmission.

In case of sound conduction disorders, hearing loss is usually reversible, and with timely and qualified therapy, the functionality of the ear returns quite quickly.

Impaired sound perception

This group of diseases is considered quite dangerous and serious; most often such pathological processes are irreversible. Impaired sound perception is diagnosed if, during the course of research, a specialist determines that the sound-conducting functionality of the ear is not impaired, but by all indications it is clear that the work of the receptor apparatus is not performed properly.

The following can lead to disturbances in sound perception:

traumatic brain injury;
barotrauma;
temporal bone fracture;
infections (flu, measles, encephalitis, rubella);
taking ototoxic medications (gentamicin, aminoglycosides);
metabolic disorders in diabetes mellitus;
atherosclerosis of the vessels of the head and neck.

Why do you need to monitor your hearing acuity?

Regular hearing tests, especially after suffering from inflammatory diseases, are extremely important for the timely diagnosis of pathological disorders.

Detecting hearing loss at the optimal time allows you to:

extinguish inflammatory processes in time before they spread to neighboring areas of the hearing organ or tissue;
stop the irreversible processes of hearing loss and take measures to adapt the patient to the outside world.

If such a striking symptom as hearing loss is ignored, patients may face complete loss of ear functionality.

Modern techniques

All hearing testing methods that are available to otolaryngologists can be divided into two large groups: objective and subjective.

Objective methods

Such methods are considered the most reliable, since their action is based on recording the occurrence of unconditioned reflexes during diagnosis.

Most often, objective methods are used in relation to children under three years of age. One of them is audiometry of newborns, which is carried out for every baby born within the walls of the maternity hospital. The study is carried out using special equipment that records the acoustic emission of each baby's ear.

Audiometry is used to study hearing acuity in disabled and comatose patients, as well as to provide an impartial picture in controversial cases.

Subjective methods

These methods of hearing testing are used by otolaryngologists when diagnosing the functionality of the ears in children over 3 years of age who can speak, as well as in adults during medical examinations, commissions, and when patients have complaints about a decrease in the acuity of sound perception.

Subjective methods are based on whispered speech and tuning fork tests, when the patient must either reproduce a quietly spoken phrase or confirm that he hears a sound. Such methods are actively used by otolaryngologists because of their simplicity, but at the same time, they do not provide such an accurate picture of the quality of sound perception of patients as objective audiometry.

Acoustic techniques

Acumetric techniques are used by otolaryngologists during medical examinations and commissions. This hearing diagnostic allows you to quickly assess whether the patient has problems with the perception of sounds.

Spoken speech test

The patient is asked to face away from the testing provider and cover one ear. The otolaryngologist comes close to him and loudly pronounces phrases containing voiced and voiceless consonants, and the test person repeats what he heard. Gradually the specialist steps back; ideally, the final distance between the inspector and the person being checked should be 6 meters.

Whisper speech test

Acumetry in whispered speech is carried out in the same way as in the case of spoken speech: the patient stands with his back to the doctor and closes one ear. The specialist begins to whisper phrases to the person being tested, gradually moving back until he reaches a minimum distance of 6 meters.

Tuning fork tests

Such hearing diagnostics are used if the patient has problems in sound perception during standard tests of spoken and whispered speech. Using this musical instrument, the otolaryngologist will check which pitch the patient hears the worst.

Audiometry

If standard tests show that the patient has hearing problems, audiometry is indicated. A special device checks the air and bone conduction of sounds in each ear and records all data in the audiogram field.

Hearing test at home

Unfortunately, not all of us undergo medical examinations and special commissions; many of us do not visit the otolaryngologist’s office for years. Meanwhile, we are constantly surrounded by noise, which can negatively affect the state of our hearing organs and even cause progressive irreversible hearing loss.

In order not to forever lose the ability to hear well, it is important to regularly visit an otolaryngologist and contact him for a hearing test and consultation at the slightest suspicion of deterioration in sound perception.

You can also pre-test your hearing at home. Experts have developed several simple techniques that help determine whether a person’s ear functionality is impaired.

This type of hearing test is carried out in spacious rooms, protected as much as possible from extraneous noise. Two people must participate in the diagnosis - the subject who needs to test his hearing acuity, and the examiner.

At a distance of 2-3 meters from the subject, several phrases are whispered, which he must repeat.
Testing is carried out using whispered and spoken speech at a distance of 6 meters.

How to test your hearing at home alone? If you don't have a helper, listen to the sounds around you:

you must recognize vibrations of different frequencies - from the low hum of appliances, to the high ticking of a clock and the singing of birds outside the window;
you should not have problems with perception during telephone conversations;
you should not constantly ask your interlocutors;
your loved ones should not complain that you turn on the TV too loud;
Don’t you think that most of your interlocutors speak indistinctly, unintelligibly and somehow quietly?

If any of the statements do not suit you, contact an otolaryngologist.

Hearing Test Apps

Another group of methods for self-testing hearing is special applications developed for mobile devices. With their help, hearing diagnostics is quick and easy.

uHear and Hörtest. These applications test each ear of the test subject in turn for the perception of different frequencies of sounds. The vibrations are transmitted through headphones, and the “patient”, having heard them, must press a button.
Mimi Hearing Test. Developed by a hearing aid company. Testing is ideal for those who are looking for ways to test their hearing on their own. It follows a standard scenario - through headphones, sound vibrations are sent to the ear of the person being tested, and he must press the “Right” / “Left” buttons on the smartphone screen when he hears them. At the end of the diagnosis, the program displays your age as a result, which it determined based on the state of sound perception of your ears. If the numbers are incorrect, contact an otolaryngologist.

The applications that we will discuss below will help you understand how normal your hearing is. If the results are far from optimal, it makes sense to consult a doctor.

uHear

uHear measures your hearing sensitivity and how well you adapt to environmental noise. The first test takes approximately five minutes, the second - no more than a minute. For each test you will need headphones, and in the application you can choose their type - in-ear or on-ear.

The test determines the sensitivity of each ear separately. This is achieved by playing noise of different frequencies and determining the upper and lower limits of your hearing.

Hortest

Hörtest for Android works on the same principle. You need to press the button every time you hear sound in the headphones. I'll say the obvious, but don't fool yourself and don't press a button just to improve your test results. You go through it for yourself.

Mimi Hearing Test

Mimi Hearing Technologies is a company that produces equipment for deaf people. If you have an iOS device, I would recommend taking this test. The application works on a similar principle to the previous ones. Every time you hear a sound in your left or right ear, you need to press the Left or Right button, respectively. The test result is your age based on hearing sensitivity. If it matches your real age, great. If the difference is very large, then your hearing is not normal.

Bonus

If you don't have iOS or Android devices, you can use this video test on YouTube. As with all previous applications, headphones are required.

Tell us at what point you stopped hearing sounds and how old you are.

When you want to choose headphones, you study their technical characteristics, which include, among others, the value o. This value is important because it reflects the technical ability of headphones to reproduce frequencies that a person can hear.

If a person’s hearing is not damaged, then he can distinguish sound at frequencies from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. However, this is ideal; in real life, our range will be different, and what’s more sad is that it will be narrower than the classic 20 Hz - 20,000 Hz.

What does a person hear and what does hearing health depend on?

The older we get, the worse our hearing becomes. Like everything else in our body, hearing begins to perform its tasks worse with age.

Those who are already about 30 years old can hardly distinguish a sound at a frequency of 20,000 Hz; they simply do not hear it, because hearing began to deteriorate. This is not a disease and not something to seriously worry about, this is how our hearing organ works - it does not recover and only gets worse over time.

By the age of 40, you most likely will not be able to distinguish a sound at a frequency of 18,000 Hz or even 17,000 Hz, and by the age of 50, it is considered good to hear a sound at a frequency of 15,000 Hz.

Of course, each person’s hearing is unique; someone even at 50 years old can hear a sound with a frequency of 17,000 Hz, while others cannot even hear 12,000 Hz.

As I said above, hearing is not restored. The design of the organ is such that special hairs are responsible for irritating the nerve endings, which move when exposed to sound, i.e. air. With age, some hairs die off, while others are irreversibly damaged by listening to loud sounds.

Yes, yes, hearing can be damaged simply by going to concerts frequently, or working as a construction worker with heavy equipment, like a jackhammer, without hearing protection.

Every day we subject our hearing to serious tests, and every day it gets worse. Even a trip on the subway without headphones with active noise reduction slightly worsens our ability to perceive sound every time, and this is irreversible.

Therefore, you need to think about health from a young age, without expecting a noticeable degradation of the ability to hear, because there is no turning back.

Online hearing testing

Well, enough theory, let's check how well you hear different sound frequencies.

For simplicity and clarity, there will be only 4 frequencies that will show your current capabilities.

The fact is that hearing degradation occurs from the edges of the audible range, provided that there is no injury to the eardrum or disease of the inner ear.

Thus, it is clear that if changes in hearing have begun, then you will begin to hear worse at the border of the possible, i.e. at a frequency of 20 Hz or 20000 Hz. And the narrower the range, the more your hearing is damaged.

If you hear sound at 20 Hz, then you are fine with the perception of the lower threshold and that’s great. This means that your hearing is in more or less good condition, but don’t rejoice ahead of time, let’s listen to the following sounds.

Sound at 250 Hz is very important for our life. A lot of sounds from the surrounding world, people and animals sound around this frequency, so if you hear it, then you can live a full, normal life. But if you can’t hear it, this is a reason to immediately consult a doctor; even very old people who have not had hearing injuries can hear this sound well.

Sound at 2 kHz here only for the general picture, it should be heard by absolutely all people who have not had injuries to their hearing organs or their serious illness. This is one of the most loaded frequencies, because Most instruments sound at this frequency. Also, quite a few high-pitched female voices use this frequency and therefore it is extremely important for human life.

This is a test piece that reproduces 16 kHz audio. According to statistics, not every person who has lived to be 30 years old can hear this sound. Therefore, if you hear it poorly and you are over 30 years old, then there is no big reason for the disorder. Of course, it’s a pity that your hearing has begun to deteriorate, but you are not yet outside the norm and there is no particular reason to worry. Although, of course, going to a doctor and having your hearing tested using professional equipment would not be a bad idea.

Let me just say that I am now 34 years old and I hear sound at a frequency of 16 kHz clearly and distinctly. Perhaps I should praise myself that I hear a little more than my peers.

This is a test recording sound with a frequency of 20 kHz. According to statistics, not all people over 20 years of age can hear it, even if they have never had any injuries or diseases of the hearing organs.

If you are over 20 years old and have not heard anything, do not be upset, this, unfortunately, is normal.

Personally, I no longer hear this frequency, but I am already 34 years old and this is absolutely normal for my age, although, of course, a little sad.

Why hearing testing is important for everyone

Of course, our online hearing testing is quite cursory, in addition, it is carried out on your own personal equipment, which can cause distortions and interfere with the purity of the experiment.

However, even such testing may make you think about your hearing health. After all, if you are still young, but already have trouble hearing the 16 kHz frequency, then you probably need to see a doctor for a more serious approach to this problem.

Plus, this quick test shows that for people over 30, there's little point in worrying about not listening or having Bluetooth headphones as their primary headphones.

The fact is that codecs for wireless transmission of music from music save the bandwidth of the Bluetooth channel, thereby increasing the stability of data transmission. And if you are young and listen to records, then you should think about using quality wired headphones. But if you are already 40 years old or older, then the quality of music transmission via Bluetooth will be enough for you, because... Those frequencies that are artificially cut off during encoding, you most likely will no longer hear and will not feel the difference in sound quality.

As you can see, every cloud has a silver lining. Yes, we are all getting older every year, and our hearing is fading, but now we can listen to comfortable music without a twinge of conscience and not worry about the quality of music transmission; online hearing testing has clearly shown us that this no longer matters much.