I commend RFB for taking such good care of his hearing over the years. Wish I had done the same earlier in life. I believe the ability to hear to 20khz and beyond is very rare, however, unless the person is a pre-teen who hasn't yet been introduced to ear-buds. Let's all get tested, and report our results here on the forum. I bet there won't be many with RFB's ability.
Now, "Riddle me this:" I have a sound level meter. I like to listen to my TV/sound system at about 75db where I sit. My wife, who sits by my side, just a bit farther away from the sound, is constantly telling me to turn it down. (Sound familiar?)
I took my meter to church one day, where I WISH I could turn things down, and the reading there where we sit is between 85 and 90 db when music is playing. Does my wife ever complain about the music being too loud in church? NO!!!!!! WHY?????????!!!!!! (My sister is the same way)
Women! I'll never understand 'em! You know the drill...Does anybody know why?
"Does my wife ever complain about the music being too loud in church? NO!!!!!! WHY?????????!!!!!!"
Some women are wired for complaining no matter where or what..or why.
But there is also the fact that some people are more sensitive to a certain range of audio frequencies than others, and that may cause confusion as to why one thing nearby might seem to loud to them and not to others, and totally different or opposite elsewhere where the audio frequency range that would normally bother the person, is spread out more evenly across the spectrum of their hearing range, as well as possibly something within the room or building that is absorbing those certain frequencies.
Granted the audio coming from your TV system wont be as wide range as that of the music from instruments being played in a church setting where the room is considerably bigger thus the sound waves must travel further, and attenuating as they travel, reflect off walls and furniture further reducing amplitude of those frequencies...all kinds of things, so it may be a simple matter of the acoustical physics differences between the TV audio at home vs the instrument music at a church.
Due to these variances, your sound meter may be fooled by these variances as well. Sound engineers at events like concerts and such, take extensive sound measurements at various points to determine where the reflective points are, where the absorbing points are, and where exactly to put and point the loud speaker arrays as well as apply electronic delay processing to compensate for room acoustics etc.
RFB
At home wife is complaining about a volume setting that YOU selected.
At church the volume is set by the good looking pastor.
Actually the sound from my living room system is much wider range than at church. The church people sing over CDs played through a PA system that is boosted at the mid-range frequencies. At 85 - 90 db, it's a screaming, jarring sound that assults your ears! (well, MY ears...) A lot of my power at home is in the lows. And the highs are crisp and brilliant...never screaming like at church. Why anyone would want to turn down my 75 db of wonderfully, lovelingly equalized, easy-going tones and not the church's 85 - 90db of bone jarring, raw audio artillary is beyond me.....but alas, I'm in love with the woman, and love is blind. (It's also apparently DEAF! 🙂 )
Gender hearing differences
http://www.arlenetaylor.org/sensory-preference/423-gender-hearing-differences
Thanks! Article makes sense, BUT ----- My wife is NOT bothered by the HIGH volume of the church music ----- and IS bothered by the LOWER volume of my system at home! That is exactly OPPOSITE of what the article is saying!
Somebody posted: "the volume at home is set by me...but the volume at church is set by the good looking pastor!" LOL! That makes the most sense of anything I've heard yet!
When you do a search using the key words "online hearing tests" several good ones come up. I chose one that checks between 30hz and 16khz with the upper frequency choices being 4khz, 8khz, 12khz and 16khz. I was pretty much flat until I got to 12khz, where I couldn't hear anything. So I kept turning up the gain. I got to 20db (100 times!) over the volume I was using to hear 8khz, and finally, BAM!! I heard the 12khz, and it actually HURT when I did! Still nothing at 16khz, and I wasn't about to crank it up any higher. Anyway, I now have a ballpark idea of where I stand. I'll get a professional test done one of these days.
I considered testing my wife with the online test, but I know what she'll say....."I can't hear anything. TURN IT DOWN!!"
My xyl always keeps telling me to turn it up.
No...not the tv or radio! 😉
RFB