Using a tone generator plug in S1 I performed a crued hearing test through a pair of B&O earbuds. The range of tones went from 50hz.,80hz, 100hz-1khz(in 100hz increments), 1.5khz ,2khz ,2.5khz…up to 10khz., then 12-14-16-18-20khz.
I started at 50hz, lowering the volume until I could not hear it (or just barely). I did this for each range and mapped out a graph, basically my own personal hearing curve (slightly biased from the earbuds). What I found out is from 10-12khz my hearing plummets, I worked around heavy equipment for the past 15yrs (even with hearing protection) and that is likely the cause.
After all of the data was collected, I used the lowest db range as my “0” point and used this to make a eq curve in S1’s plug “Pro Eq”.
I set up the preset and put the plug (with the preset) onto the master fader bus. To allow me to make better informed eq adjustments. It is one thing to adapt or change room nodes, and another to deal with your own personal hearing limitations. Hopefully now my “highs” will not be so piercing! Screachhhhh!
I have used this site’s online hearing test a couple of times. No substitute for a real audiologist, but still very revealing. It uses a series of tones and provides a way to calibrate your headphones by comparing a recording of hands rubbing in front of your face to your actual hands.
Here is the audiogram it generates for me (I just retook it now). The testing goes only up to 8KHz, and what’s clear is (as I already knew) my left ear is much worse than my right; and I have a huge trough around 4-6 KHz especially on the left, but that it then recovers at around 8K. I sure wish it went to higher frequency… The shaded field shows where most normal conversational voices fall, and my loss is a classic example for not being able to hear well in crowded, noisy environments like restaurants and bars. It also shows that my right ear does most of the heavy lifting for me…
My right ear has suffered molten (metal) slag burn. I was doing some welding , when a piece of slag somehow managed to fly into my ear…I mean all the way in.
@Chordwainer
wooh, that was fascinating - thanks for that link Dave… I knew I had some hearing loss but that was kinda freaky. It’s a little noisy round here at the moment so I’m going to try it again later in the day and do the extra test. I was surprised at the difference between ears, which is probably quite significant when mixing… interesting stuff… o dear…
I have hearing loss and use hearing aids for certain situations, and they definitely help. But it’s not like getting glasses where most people can get close to 20-20 vision with a good pair of specs; even with the latest digital HA tech it’s not as good. They do help in crowded room situations, I have a remote control with several presets that let me dial down background noise which is cool.
For mixing it’s like anything else I think, different room, different monitors, different DAW setup, you just have to learn how it works and adapt to it. Make friends with that spectrum analyzer. I don’t expect to become a great mastering engineer but I can get a good mix I think. If I would just get to work anyway . . . .
Well, after doing this today I finally got off my butt and made an appointment to see an audiologist, next Weds. Hopefully I’ll have my hearing aids within a few weeks…
Make sure the audiologist knows the HA’s software well, my first one couldn’t adjust anything without calling the factory help desk. My first HA, a Phonak, was a great and expensive aid for general use but couldn’t handle a guitar amp turned up. I ended up at Costco with a cheaper Bernafon that has a “Live Music program” that works much better, but I can’t use it with headphones.
Beware the return policy run around. My first audiologist kept telling me “Oh, you don’t need to return it, we can fix it, it just takes time.”
this is a great site and test mate! thanks!!
sorry to hear (no pun lol) you have hearing loss, i hope u get it sorted my friend.
here are my results, i think we should all have a go at it i found it very interesting.
i work in machinery all day so expected some damage .
i seem to have a drop around 4k,however i have a theory for this…
its probably the exact frequency of my wifes voice so my brain has chosen to eq her out a bit! lol
You guys are fine! I would be delighted if my hearing were that good.
Thanks for the words of warning on the HA situation. I expect I will be getting the actual devices somewhere other than where I get the exam. I’m going to an ear-nose-n-throat doc and I don’t think that audiology is their main bag. Lots of places to get the hardware once I have my diagnosis/prescription/EQ signature…
I’ve always been curious of how hearing aides will impact mixing decisions. I speculate I’ll be having to go that route at some point for my right ear due to the damage that meniere’s has done. I can’t imagine that it will restore any lost frequencies. I would guess that it would just amplify whatever is left.
I guess restore would mean turning back the clock on hearing loss which doesn’t happen yet. This is a tricky subject and I’m no expert but in general HA’s amplify incoming sound according to settings that are programmed in. So they would amplify a 4K loss but not amplify at 2K for instance if that’s what a user needed. They also limit, compress and do some filtering as needed. So they can for instance limit background noise in a crowded environment.
But then your brain adjusts to the different audio input so you may get “restored”, but everyone is different so YMMV as they say.
Programming for musicians is futher complicated because HA’s are designed for amping speech, so you need custom programming for live music, another deep subject it helps to know about.
That’s a good one, and indeed I wish it went up to 15kHz onwards. When I was a teenager I remember I had an unusually good hearing curve in the highs: I was actually often annoyed by high frequency noises in everyday life, particularly TVs (cathodic at this time). As an adult I felt that I had lost a great part of this but this test shows I’m actually better in the highs (close to zero) than in the lows.
Welp, I had my audiology exam yesterday, and damn if the audiogram isn’t nearly identical to the one I generated using that website I posted above. Here’s the result:
Same color scheme-- left = blue, red = right. Standard audiology exams go only to 8 Khz, just like the online one, because that’s where speech sits. I’d have to find a specialist with more advanced gear to get results at higher freqs.
But the similarity between the online one and the formal one is pretty amazing, no? Really lends credibility to that website’s test IMO-- provided of course that you do it in a very quiet setting with excellent headphones (not earbuds for sure). The doctor was impressed with my description of my music room and quickly concluded I was knowledgeable enough about sound to have a very detailed conversation about the results. She was very thorough and I feel like I have a solid assessment of my hearing probs.
Next step is to decide whether I want to pursue getting tested at higher freqs and get a HA that is functional at those freqs. I suspect that the HAs may be a lot more expensive in that case, so I’ll need to do some research. But the first step has been taken…!
