Listen Carefully

Equipment
Adobe Audition
Sound Editing Software

After reading back on one of my audio books I decided it might be a good idea to include a “do it yourself” hearing test in the sound library. To that end I have created the following.

Three sound files, one in stereo, one that plays only to the right ear and one that plays only to the left ear. Each file progresses through a series of progressively higher frequencies. As a listener you can listen to each sound file as it plays and check your hearing. The files are constructed as follows.

Each frequency plays for a period of two seconds and then continues directly to the next frequency with no gap. The frequency progression is.

25Hz, 50Hz, 100 Hz, 500Hz, 1KHz, 2.5Hz, 10KHz, 12.5KHz, 15KHz, 17.5KHz, 20KHz

All the signals are a sine wave generated at -12Db. Of course it can be played louder or softer depending on what your volume settings are when played. Do not play the file too loudly and do not adjust the volume level once you start.

Personally I find I can hear up to 15KHz just. Anything higher I can not make out. Also I find the 2.5 KHz signal almost painfully loud at -12Db but all the other sounds fairly comfortable.