What are high frequency sounds like?

[melissa]

I can't hear some very high frequency sounds. Can't find a recent audiogram to describe my loss specifically but if I remember correctly it's a straightish line which drops 10-20dbs at most in the speech frequencies then slopes down to 90db or so in the very high frequencies.

For me, the very high ones that I can hear, physically hurt. It makes me cringe and do something to not hear it (stick my fingers in my ears, or move away). These are things like car alarms, smoke alarms beeping, something like that. Granted, they are supposed to cause discomfort, but I think it bothers me more than most people.

I don't know if it's just me, but the higher the frequency, the more ethereal the sound seems, like if I turn my head a certain way I can hear it for a few seconds, then I'll move and it's gone. Then I move again and it's back, and I get tinnitus sometimes so then I wonder if it's that, and think I haven't really heard anything concrete.

Melissa.

 

[khar59]

I know I can't hear certain sounds until I put my hearing aids on. Alarm clocks, oven timers etc. those high piercing noises can really get to you.

When I got my digital hearing aids I could suddenly hear all these sounds I hadn't done in years.

 

[Etoile]

I don't know if it's just me, but the higher the frequency, the more ethereal the sound seems, like if I turn my head a certain way I can hear it for a few seconds, then I'll move and it's gone. Then I move again and it's back, and I get tinnitus sometimes so then I wonder if it's that, and think I haven't really heard anything concrete.

It's not just you!! This describes me perfectly.

 

[melissa]

Ah, thankyou! I thought it was just me.

I'm not sure what kind of alarm it is, but there's a high-pitched beeping alarm that I sometimes hear when my window is open, a house alarm from a few streets away, I think. Often I can't tell if it's tinnitus or I'm just 'hearing things' (some would say 'going crazy' but I don't find anything funny about mental issues) I can't put it into context- if I could see house being broken into then I'd realise it was the alarm, etc. It's only when it carries on for a while or I ask my mum if she can hear something...on the other hand, I heard next doors' house alarm going off when my mum didn't, so my level of hearing isn't constant.

 

[khar59]

I can't hear the tornado warnings when I'm in my home.

 

[thesynthfreq]

Hi everyone. i can relate with you all on this issue. I was born 3 months early and weighed 1lb 6oz. I think the meds they gave me to keep me alive killed my high freq hearing so i have never heard it. I have a synthesizer keyboard that I create waveforms with and I formed a square waveform and tuned it to the highest freq possible and cranked up my amp and sat in front of the speaker and heard absolute silence. Sometimes I felt a static air sensation but never detected any kind of pitch or sound or anything. On my audio gram from 2k to 8k my hearing is 110+db and that is only cuz i told the audie that I could feel the headphones moving and I could feel air coming from them. I guess I will never hear those freq even with my Naida v up HAs. I have a hearing friend and yesterday I had to change a battery in my fire alarm in my room and I hit the "test" feature on it and it sounded at 85db. I could barely hear it and it was right next to my ear! I could feel more air coming out of it than noise. I cant hear it from on the ceiling, in a fire it would have to be on my pillow next to me for me to sort of hear it. I do not know what freq it is, but its very quiet for 85db. My hearing friend got really mad at me and told me that her ears were ringing and they hurt and that she was still hurt by the sound even with her ears covered. I had it in my hand at ear level. She is still mad at me for that. I do not understand high freq either and from what I am told from 2k to 20,000k they become higher in pitch and quieter. I had no idea that the VOLUME changes along with PITCH as the freq get higher. To me anything after 2.5k is silent and nothing but air.With my new Phonak Naidas I was told that everything above 2.5k was being transposed back down into 2.5k. I feel like nothing in the world would make it to where I could hear sound above 3k. I do not know what this means really and I do not notice much of a difference since I have never heard above 2.5k. So, whatever it is transposing I do not understand it. I am now confused by sounds but can hear more environmental stuff that I have never heard either. I do know that I can hear dog tags and collars now which is a first in my life, its crazy to be 26 years old and just now hear a dog tag. Now I know what my friends were talking about when they could hear a dog moving around by their tags. I also can hear my alarm on my watch in quiet. That is also a first for me, in the past, my watch would go off forever until someone told me that it was on. lol
Anyway here is what my audiogram shows:
right ear: 125hz= nr left ear: nr
250db= 95db 100db
500db= 90db 105db
1k= 88db 105db
2k= 90db 110+db
4k= 105db 110+db
8k= 110+db 110+db

 

[Etoile]

I think the meds they gave me to keep me alive killed my high freq hearing

Anyway here is what my audiogram shows:
right ear: 125hz= nr left ear: nr
250db= 95db 100db
500db= 90db 105db
1k= 88db 105db
2k= 90db 110+db
4k= 105db 110+db
8k= 110+db 110+db

I think it killed all your hearing! LOL. Well, we all become deaf in different ways, right? At least you survived! 3 months premature, wow!

 

[deafdude1]

Hi everyone. i can relate with you all on this issue. I was born 3 months early and weighed 1lb 6oz. I think the meds they gave me to keep me alive killed my high freq hearing so i have never heard it.

Etoile says the meds made you profoundly deaf. I was born that way and no one knows, but genes could be suspected. I did have a bit of high frequency hearing in my younger years but this went away when I became an adult.

I have a synthesizer keyboard that I create waveforms with and I formed a square waveform and tuned it to the highest freq possible and cranked up my amp and sat in front of the speaker and heard absolute silence. Sometimes I felt a static air sensation but never detected any kind of pitch or sound or anything.

Same here, I just feel the air or hear a low frequency hum which is distortion from the speaker being cranked way up.

On my audio gram from 2k to 8k my hearing is 110+db and that is only cuz i told the audie that I could feel the headphones moving and I could feel air coming from them.

Same here! I heard some sensation of sound but I wonder if my brain was playing tricks on me and it was nothing more than feeling the air pressing on my eardrums? Or it could simply be off-frequency hearing due to cochlear dead regions. Ive noticed alot of deaf/HOH people have audiograms that slope downwards then level off near the bottom. The leveling off may be due to cochlear dead regions. They may hear/feel a sound or sensation but it does not truly arise from residual hearing.

http://www.alldeaf.com/hearing-aids-cochlear-implants/63471-good-articles-identifying-cochlear-dead-spots.html

Read about cochlear dead zones!

I guess I will never hear those freq even with my Naida v up HAs. I have a hearing friend and yesterday I had to change a battery in my fire alarm in my room and I hit the "test" feature on it and it sounded at 85db. I could barely hear it and it was right next to my ear! I could feel more air coming out of it than noise. I cant hear it from on the ceiling, in a fire it would have to be on my pillow next to me for me to sort of hear it. I do not know what freq it is, but its very quiet for 85db. My hearing friend got really mad at me and told me that her ears were ringing and they hurt and that she was still hurt by the sound even with her ears covered. I had it in my hand at ear level. She is still mad at me for that.

Did you hear it unaided or with your HAs? If you heard it unaided, it was probably more like 120db spl. One of my whistles is amazingly powerful, especially for it's small size. I measured it on my SPL meter and I was registering over 120db SPL! I could feel alot of air comming out when I put my hand over the whistle I was blowing. Of course I heard nothing but my parents heard it loud and clear from downstairs! Mom said when she blew that whistle herself in my ears(unaided), it was hurting her ears, yet I heard nothing but felt a woosh of air! So yea that fire alarm has a built in whistle that's designed to be very loud so everyone in the building can hear it and rush for the exits!

I do not understand high freq either and from what I am told from 2k to 20,000k they become higher in pitch and quieter.

Did you mean 20k and not 20,000k? Ive read that most adults can't hear above 14k or so but young children can hear up to 20k and teens can hear up to 18k(that's where some of the "teen buzz" ringtones on their cellphones are at!) above 6000Hz, most hearing people can't discriminate pitch, it sounds the same but quieter and quieter till it's inaudible. If you can hear 6000Hz, you aren't missing anything useful at this point.

I had no idea that the VOLUME changes along with PITCH as the freq get higher. To me anything after 2.5k is silent and nothing but air. With my new Phonak Naidas I was told that everything above 2.5k was being transposed back down into 2.5k.

For me, the volume goes down as pitch goes up because I have a sloping hearing loss. I hear the lows loud and above 750Hz it gets fainter and fainter till silence. Transposition cutoff is 1.5k, not 2.5k.

I feel like nothing in the world would make it to where I could hear sound above 3k. I do not know what this means really and I do not notice much of a difference since I have never heard above 2.5k.

A cochlear implant or stem cells could give better hearing. Have you ever considered either or are you happy with your hearing forever? I plan to get stem cells in around 3 years.

Anyway here is what my audiogram shows:
right ear: 125hz= nr left ear: nr
250db= 95db 100db
500db= 90db 105db
1k= 88db 105db
2k= 90db 110+db
4k= 105db 110+db
8k= 110+db 110+db[/QUOTE]

Did you feel any vibrations at 125Hz and 250Hz? Your audiogram is pretty much flat at 105db in your left ear and 90db in your right ear. Your right ear has better hearing than my ears above 500Hz.

 

[Etoile]

Etoile says the meds made you profoundly deaf.

Whoa now! I didn't say that. thesynthfreq said the meds knocked out the high frequencies, and I noticed that the chart posted indicated deafness at all frequencies. All I was saying was that the meds must have knocked out ALL the frequencies not just the high ones.

 

[thesynthfreq]

Hi! Thanks for all the input and info. Yes your right the cut-off IS at 1.5k but what I was saying is that my audiologist set mine to be 2.5k, I do not know why, but he did. I also had him crank up the high freq to try and get more clarity in speech, but its not helping at all, in fact its making more noise than anything. I also notice that when I am walking near the street close to traffic, that I still cant hear cars behind me, but I hear lots of annoying noise and whenever someone tries to talk to me, I hear nothing but static that starts and stops as they speak. I still use total communication even with my new Naida V UPs, but I really like the new sounds that I am hearing. Tonight my twin sister, also deaf, heard a fly and screamed and nearly gave me a heart attack! I tried to listen for it, but didnt hear it. I have been able to hear things that were so mysterious and unknown before. I cant belive how noisy the world really is. I had better hearing (moderatly severe) growing up, but it slowly went away. I actually heard my hearing go away, I went to an ENT and AuD, and told them that I can no longer hear my own voice and he looked at my ear and said it was fine. 8 months later, and much less hearing later, he said that I have a eustatcian tube problem ,plague and holes on my eardrums and some kind of fluid in my skull that cant be removed, but I am worried about seeing an ENT again though, no more surgery for me. I have had my fill of them, eye and ear surgeries. I am also blind (20/1600) the best vision I ever had thanks to new glasses. My twin and I were born 3 months early and the wierd thing is, is that she has worse hearing than me, and i have worse vision. Its very wierd, we are mirror-image identical twins. Everything is opposite. After a seizure (epilepsy), I feel weakness on mt left side of my body, her siezures make her right side weak. We have opposite personalities too, I am the more "silly, and wild one" out of the two of us, she is more serious and organized. lol
We both are accomplished musicians as well. We started writing music at age 6 and still write and perform music to this day, however, I am frustrated though with my hearing because I have an 800watt amp that I cant get loud enough to hear without it being right next to me, but with my new hearing aids, the amp is too much signal for my HAs and the Icom, the signal is very wavy sounding and not pure, too much noise. However today, I was reminded of "how deaf" as my friend says, we are. We played original music for Austin white cane day festival and we played on stage with full stack speakers and monitors everywhere. I also had a monitor right next to me at ear level and could hear it well with one hearing aid in, I could feel the air coming out of the speaker at me. Everything sounded great and I could really hear it. My hearing friend told me later, that she was in pain the whole time. I cant belive that what hurts hear ears, is perfect volume to me. I live in an upstairs apt, and I cant have my amp in my studio up loud enough without shaking the floor and having the cops called, which did happen, lol. So, I am trying to find a way to be able to hear at the volume I need without distorting my hearing aids, ruining my headphones that dont get near loud enough or kill my studio speaker. lol My monitor headphones(100db sensitive) are falling apart because the drivers inside cant pull enough volume and they rattle a lot when I wear them. I also use DAI button cables like the old auditory trainers from the 70s and those practically shake out of the earmold!
(thats the end of my ranting and raving session! lol)
I live for writing and playing music (synthesizers and piano mostly) and I will never quit no matter what. I will just adjust as best I can. I have found that there are other deaf musicians here as well, Awesome. Any suggestions on amps and db's?

Anyway, trying to stay positive. AD.com is a great place and I talk about it a lot to my sis. She says HI to everyone too. (sorry for the long post)!
Take care everyone.

 

[deafdude1]

Hi! Thanks for all the input and info. Yes your right the cut-off IS at 1.5k but what I was saying is that my audiologist set mine to be 2.5k, I do not know why, but he did.

What are the different levels of cutoff he can adjust to? Id be interested in a lower cutoff on my own HAs but my audiologist has no way of adjusting the cutoff, just the compression. Id like a cutoff of around 750Hz.

I also had him crank up the high freq to try and get more clarity in speech, but its not helping at all, in fact its making more noise than anything.

Read this and show it to your audiologist! Do have him max the gains in the frequencies you can still hear, however.

http://www.alldeaf.com/hearing-aids-cochlear-implants/63471-good-articles-identifying-cochlear-dead-spots.html

I also notice that when I am walking near the street close to traffic, that I still cant hear cars behind me, but I hear lots of annoying noise and whenever someone tries to talk to me, I hear nothing but static that starts and stops as they speak.

Id get your HAs reprogrammed. It takes several tries to program them correctly. You won't hear normally but youll hear better than now.

I had better hearing (moderatly severe) growing up, but it slowly went away. I actually heard my hearing go away, I went to an ENT and AuD, and told them that I can no longer hear my own voice and he looked at my ear and said it was fine. 8 months later, and much less hearing later, he said that I have a eustatcian tube problem ,plague and holes on my eardrums and some kind of fluid in my skull that cant be removed, but I am worried about seeing an ENT again though, no more surgery for me.

How much of your loss is conductive? Ive been told my loss is 100% sensorineural. Stem cells will be able to help me there, however.

I have had my fill of them, eye and ear surgeries. I am also blind (20/1600) the best vision I ever had thanks to new glasses.

I thought glasses doesn't help except for refractive errors. I am 20/600 without glasses but 20/30 with. My prescription is -4.5 and -5. What kind of eye problems do you have? I am myopic which is being corrected with glasses. How do you understand what others say if you can't see to read lips?

We both are accomplished musicians as well. We started writing music at age 6 and still write and perform music to this day, however, I am frustrated though with my hearing because I have an 800watt amp that I cant get loud enough to hear without it being right next to me, but with my new hearing aids, the amp is too much signal for my HAs and the Icom, the signal is very wavy sounding and not pure, too much noise.

Music has never interested me. The problem isn't loudness, music sounds noiselike to me as well.

However today, I was reminded of "how deaf" as my friend says, we are. We played original music for Austin white cane day festival and we played on stage with full stack speakers and monitors everywhere. I also had a monitor right next to me at ear level and could hear it well with one hearing aid in, I could feel the air coming out of the speaker at me. Everything sounded great and I could really hear it. My hearing friend told me later, that she was in pain the whole time. I cant belive that what hurts hear ears, is perfect volume to me.

Hearing people start experiencing discomfort at 100db, that's also when it starts damaging their hearing in as little as a few minutes! She should have worn earplugs! She's going to ruin her hearing and become HOH in a few years

I live in an upstairs apt, and I cant have my amp in my studio up loud enough without shaking the floor and having the cops called, which did happen, lol. So, I am trying to find a way to be able to hear at the volume I need without distorting my hearing aids, ruining my headphones that dont get near loud enough or kill my studio speaker. lol My monitor headphones(100db sensitive) are falling apart because the drivers inside cant pull enough volume and they rattle a lot when I wear them.

Then have the amp in your HAs set to maximum gains. I had this done on my HAs and everything is loud enough in the frequencies that I can still hear. I can hear fine on my $5 computer speakers set to only 60db. Question: Have you ever thought/considered a CI or stem cells to improve your hearing and vision? Stem cells could get your hearing back to the way it was at the time you had when you were a little kid. It may improve your vision to something like 20/200. I probably could qualify for CI but would much rather get stem cells which I am in the near future.

 

[faire_jour]

I don't find high frequency sounds annoying in any way. They can sound beautiful. They are useful in speech, music and everyday life.

(There is no proof that stem cells will be available any time soon to treat vision or hearing loss)

 

[sr171soars]

I agree.

High frequencies provide a nice counterbalance to the lower frequencies. They can be very melodious and intense as well.

I enjoy them but unfortunately, I lose them when they get too high. So, a flute is enjoyable but the piccolo gets a bit beyond the capacity of my device at times. I found this out with tea kettles when they whistle. Heck, my own whistling goes out of range as well. Very annoying to know you can't hear the highest pitches anymore.

The best part though is I don't worry about "damage" from listening to music as loud as I want.