Hearing test

Very interesting test. I did it using my PCs crappy Creative soundcard playing through my Arcam Alpha 6+ amp and Tannoy mx2 monitors (my office setup) and got a median score of -12dB. I felt this was a little unfair since I failed twice at -12dB and then, after turning up the volume quite a bit had a successful run down to -21dB and then failed at -24dB. In that sense the fact they use the median (instead of the average) of the turning points weighs heavily against me :(

Still -12dB is pretty good and seems to be what the majority of people who've taken the test have scored.

Michael.
 
Also, interesting that they choose Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" as test music. Seems to be a favourite among testers (it was one of the tracks used on AES test referred to in the "Golden Ears" thread). It also happens to be one of my favourite test CDs.

Michael.
 
Got a score of 18db, but interestingly enought the Terz test was like tuning a string instrument and I got a much higher score in that. Maybe there is something in this trained ear business
 
Found this over at HFC. Naturally I polished up my ear trumpet and had a go (with headphones), but I failed at -18db - and my success at -12db was pure fluke.
Click to expand...

I got to ââ'¬â€œ18db before failing, but I found it very hard as at that level both signals sounded less than perfect to me so it was very hard to choose the right one.

I'm using a Toshiba Tecra 9100 / Tascam US-122 / Densen Beat 100 / Harbeth Compact 7s. I may have another go later and fiddle with the gain on the Tascam a bit as both signals seemed to have some distortion in the bass and on certain words like something was clipping a bit. The point I'm trying to make is it felt like picking between two 'wrongs' rather than a 'right' and a 'wrong'.

Tony.
 
-12 db for me, with my Sony MDR-CD3000 and Perreaux, but as TonyL says I felt both sounded subpar anyway.
 
Online Distortion Hearing Test

Slumming it over at HiFi Choice - I found this:

http://forum.hifichoice.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=10181

or you can go direct to the test here:

http://www.klippel.de/aura/

Its very interesting to do I thought. It tests your ability to hear distortion applied to (initially) a test sample of a Tracy Chapman sample. You have to select which sample A or B has had the distortion applied with the level of distortion gradually decreasing starting at 12db distortion and potentially reducing to -36db. When you get one wrong it goes back up a few steps and takes you back down in smaller steps in order to asceratin the threshld at which you can perceive the distortion.

Once you've completed the first test there are some other tests using different types of sound (organ tones, vocals etc) and different types of distortion. some of which are easier than others. The Octave test (a sort of organ tone) was a lot easier (for me anyway) than the vocal only test ie. you could detect the distortion at a much lower level.

The results are presented in terms of a chart showing the thresholds reached by all the previous testers. I know my hearing isn't the best but in terms of identifying the distortion presented here, at least I know I'm better than average (if only just :) ).
 
Ahh very interesting!

Well, I did the test and got -21db. -12db seems to be the average but I can't help thinking the quality of most peoples equipment might be hurting their results.

I'd also say that its an unfair test because even the un-distorted music sounds distorted anyway! So its hard to tell the difference between crappy sounding and crappy sounding with crap added!

But anyway, what have other people got?
 
-18dB, but that's with my laptop and a pair of Sennheiser PX200s in a noisey office, so not exactly world class playback equipment or ideal conditions.
 
oops.. they seem to have muched up the first "octave" test... the reference signal is flawed.

not too impressed with the starting quality of these samples... as has been said, it got to the point of choosing bad or worse...
 
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I passed -18dB a couple of times with my computer speakers and soundcard but at -21dB I accidentally clicked the answer button instead of "play sample", which cocked up my test a bit. I'll run it through my hifi later on and have a proper go :)
 
-30dB and thats through my Sennheiser hd590's with some annoying background hiss/interfereance from my crap soundcard
 
My mum just got -33db!! :eek: Shes 45!

All that sitting in silence meditating I think, her ears have become more sensitive...
 
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