Hearing loss at age, the good news 

Hans, I really love it when you do these informational videos. Being an person reaching the upper end of middle age and no longer hearing well above 14 kHz, yet still wanting to enjoy quality audio, videos like this are really encouraging. Thank you.

At 62 years of age my hearing falls off quickly at 4kHz. I hear nothing above 8kHz. I still love music. Protect your ears and help your children understand that they should protect theirs.

It is very true that with age you actually hear better because of listening experience!!!! I've seen this kind of thing with audiophiles over the past 70 years who immediately realized the quality of the files and masterings!

Hans, every time you confirm the reason why I follow your yt channel ... that has everything to do with the easy understandable way of explaining even rather complex matter. Thank you.

Excellent video. We are never to old learn something new, especially about our often overlooked inbuilt audio receivers. They are as individual as the music and equipment we choose.

Thanks Hans, a valuable and insightful explanation of something we all experience daily with little understanding.

Sublime presentation as per usual Hans. Thank you.

It takes years listening experience to tell the subtle differences between different audio gears. But once you can tell the difference, maybe it’s not too subtle anymore. So yes younger people can hear better but they still might miss the minute differences due to the lack of a seasoned pair of ears.

An additional note: Rise time... Hans showed us a curve from a 20.000 Hz sound. We see the "shape of the hill"... The more pointy a hill is, the steeper the sides are, and the RISE TIME become shorter... Like " 100 meter up per second" compared to only "10 meter up per second"... From all percussion instruments and from" picked" string instruments, each new tone starts with an "accent", which has a pretty "strong volume" but more importantly it has a "very fast rise", ergo a "very short rise-time" in fact a faster rise than the following frequency has... Even from a "picked" bass, that initial PEAK, might have a rise-time, which is close to the rise time in a 20.000 Hz sound wave... Like when Stanley Clarke "tries to make you loudspeaker cones pop out"... Just like a "big drum" in some rock bands, also MIGHT send such a steep "chockwave", so only a loudspeaker able to reproduce "20.000 Hz Rise-Time", can actually reproduce the correct sound. But the initial accent from guitars MIGHT have a rise time, which is the same as in a 30.000 Hz sound... And even if we can no longer hear a 20.000 Hz tone, because of age or damage from noise (or too loud music), the ear still detects that initial "chock-wave", simply "felt like strong signal", which only gives one single "kick" to that "fluid in the inner ear"... Recently I finally bought my "dream hifi system", with extremely low distortion and noise, and the power amp can reproduce 40.000 Hz, while the speakers can do almost 30.000 Hz... While the DAC obviously cut all above 20.000 Hz off, when playing 44.1 kHz sample rate... Still the ability to produce the "un-needed frequencises above 20.000 Hz", by the power amp and loudspeaker, CAN be heard, but NOT as higher frequencies, (giving brighter sound), BUT as an incredible "kick" from the percussions and string instruments, including from pianos... That is caused by the abilty to reproduce "much steeper sound-curves, in a very precise manner"... Normally my max sound pressure is only about 60-65 dB (because of my neighbours)... While the room noise is around 35 dB... Thus I only need a dynamic range about 25-30 dB... More often I only play at about 45 dB, to have "soft back-ground music". Then I only need just over 10 dB dynamic range in the music! So if the music has a 60 dB dynamic range, all below about 50 db is "lost in the room noise" BUT even at low volume I can clearly hear the "sharp kick" from percussion and string instruments, so I get the "false impression , that I can still hear the smallest details"... My older "rather good" audio system could NOT give that "false impression" of "total clarity at low volume"... The ability to reproduce "high-speed-rises" makes me enjoy the music more, also at low volume. So my conclusion is: RISE TIME is in fact EXTREMELY important, and actually most important at low volumes. Just like my ancient Class A power amp, (now dead) sounded extremely clear also at low volumes, obviously because it could reproduce 200.000 Hz, "and the related rise-time"... All my friends said, they had never heard even close to the same sound quality from any other Hifi System. This was when playing music from an extremely well dampened turnable, with a studio quallity RIAA amp, so there was no high-frequent noise from a DAC or such... While the speakers actually "rolled off" from 15.000 Hz... Acting like a natural low-pass filter with no phase-distortion... Most power amps have their own filter to stop all noise above 20.000 Hz, partly to make it impossible for the Amp to oscillate at some high-frequency, and partly to stop inter-modulation from outside EM noise... But some amps are still be able to reproduce the steep rises in the "accent", from percussions and strings, while others CAN NOT, because of a different "internal feedback", which sadly makes the amp "slower"... Note, I believe many will call the "accent" the "attack" in English speaking Audiophile circles... One last note: My new Hifi System "brutally shows, when a recording/mixing was done badly"... That is actually very annoying! While a "less perfect" system might make "all songs sound great"... With a "perfect system" only the perfectly recorded/mixed editions actually sound perfect :( So having "perfect rise-time" comes with a price, in more than one meaning! Finally: Thank you a LOT Hans, for all your very informative videos :)

Our ears are optimised for vocal range (3kHz to 4Khz), specifically through the length of the ear canals (i.e. 4cm), technically providing amplification by resonance. This is a double edge sword, as this amplification transfers more mechanical energy to the hair cells in the cochlea dealing with 3kHz to 4kHz. Which is why sensorineural hearing loss due to damaged hair cells tends to happen first at this frequency range.

With my mother losing 99% of her hearing this topic greatly interests me. Thanks for putting this together

Great video, as usual. Thanks!

"You can still enjoy the richness of music and sound without being fully able to categorize it or explain why you hear what you hear." --Hans Wish more audiophiles followed that logic path.....

Man, another fantastic video, my #1 subscription on YT. Thanks

Thanks for the good news Hans. A few yesrs ago i was suffering from tinnitus and hyperacus as you mentioned in your video. After a good therapy, understanding how my auditieve cortex works and made some changes in my way of life i can enjoy music and my audiogear again. So even with a hearing problem it is possible to enjoy this hobby 😀

Dit is nou precies de informatie waarop ik zit te wachten. Ik weet nu dat het geen weggegooid geld is als ik de door jou gereviewde Yamaha RN 602 koop. Ik was bang dat dat wel zo is, op mijn leeftijd van 70 jaar, een beetje tinnitus en één functioneel doof oor. Bedankt voor de heldere uitleg en alle andere info. Groeten van Gerard uit Vleuten.

Hi Hans. Wanna say i really enjoy your vd's as i learn a lot by them, so thx for that. Been into this since i was a kid, and have some knowledge in my 35+ years with HI-FI, but when i started watching this channel, i quickly learned that i didn't really know much? The way you explain things, is so easy for me to understand, even the more complex subjects, like the one here. I know it takes a lot of time and effort to record these videos, and alone for that there should be an applaus. Thx again and cheers from Denmark.

Thanks Hans 👍

This gentleman is brilliant, I love your videos and how you explain your topics...thank you and keep up the great work.

Hans thank you for making this video its important we understand truly how we hear in our everyday lives noise pollution being one of them younger folks maxing volume on their headphones wearing protective ear sets for loud machinery is another audiophiles are aware of this in order to appreciate their music and what the gear really was engineered too do LOVE HEARING WHAT YOU SAY

The you for the informative video. It gave me comfort as a 70 year old man. Two things (1) My wife thinks we look like twins. (2) Is blue your favorite color?

This is a great subject

As usual a great video. Feel so grateful for your competence , you are authoritative without being boring and this is always . Even if some videos of yours are not exactly my cup of tea, i watched (and put thumbs up, obviously) them all very carefully, for i KNEW I would have learned something. Whenever might happen you being visiting Italy, i'd really like meeting you in person for you really are an outstanding person, with so many layers -anything but a boring "geeky" man- and I definitely mean it . With all my appreciation (and true admiration), please keep going post those videos. Stay safe wise Hans. Ciao

Good video on important topic. I think many middle-aged and older listeners refuse to share their experiences with hearing loss. This needs to be talked about so that more people can continue to enjoy their hobby on their own terms - without feeling "unworthy" of their high-end systems. The parallel is found in my other hobby, cycling: chubby, "old" men on professional racing bikes, packed with the latest technology. They will never set any records or win championships - but they gain the greatest possible speed and the greatest possible pleasure according to their preconditions.

I hear you Hans. Thanks...

Starting to loose 16-17k at age 28 And having heard good upper treble, it is definitely important. Subtle difference but it's there.

Great stuff Hans

Great explanation!

What we have engineered in audio is of course great. But how insanely well the ear works by easily resolving and interpreting 10k oscillations per second has always been fascinating for me. After all it's hairs swinging back and forth.

Thanks for the clear explanation. It's a bit of a relief.

Nice video (as usual) and good explanation. Congratulations! 👏👏👏

The cochlea functions like an ADC (not in the binary digital sense), first translating time domain into frequency domain, before converting them into electrical signals for processing by our central auditory system. Yeah, our brains process sounds like frequency spectrum analyser. The magic in the cochlea happens at the basilar membrane. High pitched sounds resonate more at the base of the basilar membrane where it is thicker and more rigid. At the apex of the basilar membrane, where it is loose and floppy, the low pitched sounds resonate more there. Similarly, within the cochlea, there is no perfect damping and it will result in intermodulation harmonics. This is where the cognitive part of hearing comes in and filtered out the noises based on arrival time of the primary and subsequent electrical signals. This seems to suggest that precise and accurate clocks in audio equipment is important and can train our central auditory system to be sharper in its processing.

As always very informative and useful topic that few cover.

Very informative video Hans. With the point around differentials in left and right ear I was wondering if that was a contributory factor into the design of audio amplifiers with a balance control? I had always thought that was more to do with speaker positioning or room acoustics or recordings. Maybe the designers recognised that we don't all hear the same too?

There is solution if some old people want hear again high frequencies like young person --> "Bone Conduction" With this method we can perceive around 50KHz (not bluetooth) but it needs to increase a lot those higher frequencies (above 20KHz) but it hurt your ears (i tested). It does not work 100% for all old people to able to hear 20KHz but with lot of experiments i've done my result is: most old people can hear around 2-3KHz more than the air conduction (example: a 60 years old friend can hear 10KHz and with bone conduction he can perceive 13KHz).

Hans, how are you? This matter is of utmost importance to me. Since I have hearing loss. However, because English is not my native language and the subtitle is in Dutch I have lost a lot of its valuable content. If it wasn't asking too much, I'd like you to make this content available subtitled in English at least... Thank you so much... Regards from 🇧🇷

Great explanation Hans, there’s hope for this old fart. I’m still enjoying the music and my gear. thanks.

dear hans , Do you think your G2 streamer need USB conditioner/reclocker? or high end streamer like G1,G2,innuos don't need it? thanks

At 45, I have hearing loss similar to what you’ve shown but only to the right ear (scuba diving barotrauma 1 year ago). This is a disaster as a musician and audiophile, and the hearing aids I tried are a joke, barely amplifying to 8khz with distortion. Why aren’t there hifi aids that go at least to 12-15khz?

Loved the vid, gave me some hope with my audiophilia aspirations :) On a different topic love your vids in general, long time follower here, but something that makes it a bit hard to relate is that often you look so angry (example, pause at 3:17) , perhaps you're trying to transmit confidence and assertiveness, but when you have a more serene atitude this works much better. I do feel like arguing back with you when you start sounding angry, even when I know you're right. I'm really guessing a lot of arguments you have in the comments section is due a bit to the perception of your atitude when delivering some of the content. This is just a neutral statement, but maybe you could reach more people (and I totally think you should) if you try to look and sound a bit more chilled.

The irony of this Video is there is no subtitles to it.

Presbycusis (age-related hearing loss) is the big elephant in the room. High frequency hearing loss comes for us all. Folks of all ages banging on about treble quality, lack thereof, too much etc. Some canny manufacturers know this and design cartridges and speakers to accommodate - timely reminder that the audiophiles with deepest pockets are of a certain vintage.