Theoretically, we are able to hear from about 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz (20 Hz – 20 kHz).
However, this varies from person to person and depends on various factors:
- Age: Children and adolescents still have fresh, “unused” hearing. Their hearing covers almost the entire range between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. With increasing age, this range shifts and becomes narrower. Thus, many older people hear only up to about 14 kHz to 16 kHz.
- Other factors would include hearing impairments that affect age-typical hearing. These include, for example, regularly listening to music too loudly or a so-called “blast injury”. Blast injury describes damage to the hair cells in the inner ear caused by short, loud sound events, such as gunshots or New Year’s Eve firecrackers (see also: “Prevent Hearing Loss: What to do to protect my hearing from damage?”).
Thus, headphones that you want to use for listening to music should cover at least a range that your hearing can also perceive. This way you can hear the entire frequency spectrum.
Tip: Check your own hearing with a hearing test
Meanwhile, there are some (headphone) manufacturers that allow you to make a hearing test via app. With these measurement apps, you can get an approximate impression of how well you can still hear. In the next step, this individual hearing curve can be applied to adjust the sound of the headphones accordingly. However, if you want to know exactly, it is better to have a detailed hearing test performed by a professional (ear specialist, audiologist).
A selection of headphones that offer a hearing test:
- Denon: Test tones are used to stimulate the cochlea of the inner ear. Highly sensitive microphones subsequently register so-called otoacoustic emissions, which themselves generate vibrations in response to the incoming sound. So instead of a subjective hearing test, Denon objectively measures and evaluates the user’s hearing ability – something no other competitor offers. → to the test of the Denon PerL Pro
- Beyerdynamic: The manufacturer relies on the “MOSAYC” technology from Mimi Hearing Technologies. Based on beeps that are played behind a kind of background noise, a hearing profile is calculated, which is also dependent on age. The correction curve can be mixed in via a slider and fine-tuned in three steps. → to the test of the Beyerdynamic Free BYRD
- Soundcore: This manufacturer’s hearing test function is called “HearID”. A hearing test can be completed for individual sound adjustment, which creates a HearID profile that compensates for imbalances between the left and right ear as well as counteracts an age-related decrease in hearing. What is particularly interesting about this is that this profile can still be edited with the EQ and adapted to one’s own preferences. → to the test of the Soundcore Space A40 by Anker
