Hearing ability overall doesn't decrease with age per se. Hearing aids are common, but not in the 30 plus population. Our hearing does evolve in the ultra high frequency range, at 12kHz and above, but I'd argue that's not a very useful part of our range anyway, unlike the octaves our human voice ranges in. I'd say hearing and especially listening gets better with age, so investing in better acoustics is always a great experience.
jacquesm|3 years ago
The established literature begs to differ.
> Our hearing does evolve in the ultra high frequency range, at 12kHz and above, but I'd argue that's not a very useful part of our range anyway, unlike the octaves our human voice ranges in.
If only it were all that simple. For starters, 12KHz isn't 'ultra high', and past 50 8 KHz should still be doable but sensitivity is what matters it this is a gradual process, not a hard cut-off from one day to the next. As you age the various components of your hearing mechanism stiffen, dry out and calcify making it harder to hear tones that you could hear easily before. So the ability to perceive an 'x' frequency may never go away but your ability to detect frequency 'x' at loudness level 'y' definitely does change.
Human voices have overtones just as instruments do, and those help in determining timbre and may help to recognize words and particular speakers (as in: people speaking, not the electromagnetic devices).
> I'd say hearing and especially listening gets better with age
The first is definitely not supported by data, in fact the data all points the other way: reduced sensitivity over time, especially in the highs.
As for listening: listening is an art and like any art you can get better at it over time but without good input it gets harder even if you get better.
> so investing in better acoustics is always a great experience.
Up to a point. And that point lies well below where audiophilia begins.