Decibel Shield
Hearing age test › High frequency sound
High frequency sound test: 8 kHz to 20 kHz
Play each high-pitched tone in turn, from 8 kHz up to 20 kHz, and mark whether you heard it. The highest tone you still hear is your upper limit, which falls steadily with age; many adults stop somewhere between 12 and 16 kHz. The 17.4 kHz step is the mosquito tone. Use headphones with the volume low.
Most people hear this. If it is silent, check the volume and the output first.
A thin, piercing whistle.
Upper treble. Cheap tweeters start rolling off.
Very high treble: the shimmer above a cymbal.
Many adults over 50 no longer hear this at all.
Usually only younger listeners still hear this.
Typically audible only to younger ears, and only on capable speakers.
The "mosquito" tone, from a device built to be heard mainly by teenagers.
Few adults hear this, and many phone and laptop speakers cannot play it.
Close to the top of human hearing and of most headphones.
The nominal top of human hearing. Silence here is normal for most people and most gear.
Tones play through your speakers or headphones; there is no microphone and nothing is recorded. Start with the volume low: high tones can be piercing, and a tone you cannot hear can still be loud. Many phone and laptop speakers cannot play the top few steps at all, so try headphones before deciding a tone is beyond you.
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What your highest tone usually means
| Highest tone heard | Typical of |
|---|---|
| 16.5 kHz or higher | Under 20 |
| 15.5–16.5 kHz | 20s |
| 14.5–15.5 kHz | 30s |
| 13.0–14.5 kHz | 40s |
| 11.0–13.0 kHz | 50s |
| 9.0–11.0 kHz | 60s |
| below 9.0 kHz | 70s or older |
The same bands as the hearing age test, which sweeps the range in one go instead of step by step. People vary a lot, and these are population-typical guides, not medical thresholds.
The tones
| Tone | Notes |
|---|---|
| 8 kHz | Most people hear this. If it is silent, check the volume and the output first. |
| 10 kHz | A thin, piercing whistle. |
| 12 kHz | Upper treble. Cheap tweeters start rolling off. |
| 14 kHz | Very high treble: the shimmer above a cymbal. |
| 15 kHz | Many adults over 50 no longer hear this at all. |
| 16 kHz | Usually only younger listeners still hear this. |
| 17 kHz | Typically audible only to younger ears, and only on capable speakers. |
| 17.4 kHz | The "mosquito" tone, from a device built to be heard mainly by teenagers. |
| 18 kHz | Few adults hear this, and many phone and laptop speakers cannot play it. |
| 19 kHz | Close to the top of human hearing and of most headphones. |
| 20 kHz | The nominal top of human hearing. Silence here is normal for most people and most gear. |
The mosquito tone
The Mosquito is an anti-loitering device invented by Howard Stapleton and first tested in Wales in 2005. It plays a pulsed high tone of about 17 to 17.4 kHz that children and teenagers hear and few people over 30 do, so that groups of young people move on from a shop doorway. The 17.4 kHz step on this page plays the same pitch. Whether you hear it says as much about your speaker as your age: many phone speakers cannot reproduce it.
Why the high frequencies go first
Hearing loss that comes with age usually affects high-pitched sounds the most: an early sign is missing higher-pitched voices, birdsong or alarms. The very top of the range goes first and quietly, long before it reaches the pitches of speech, which is why many adults are surprised by how few of the upper steps they hear. Years of loud noise bring it on sooner. The online hearing test checks each ear across the speech range instead.
Is it your ears or your speaker?
A tone this high asks a lot of the equipment, and small speakers often fade out before the top steps. If a step is silent, play it again on headphones before blaming your hearing, and if you hear a higher step than one you missed, replay the one you missed: that pattern is almost always the speaker or the room. The tone generator plays any frequency to 20 kHz if you want to go between the steps.
What is the highest frequency a human can hear?
About 20,000 Hz (20 kHz) in childhood, falling with age. The top of the range goes first, so many adults no longer hear the upper steps on this page, and that is normal rather than a sign that something is wrong.
What is the mosquito sound?
A pulsed high tone of about 17 to 17.4 kHz, played by an anti-loitering device called the Mosquito so that it is heard mainly by teenagers and young adults. The 17.4 kHz step on this page plays the same pitch.
Why can teenagers hear the mosquito tone when adults cannot?
Hearing loss that comes with age affects high-pitched sounds the most, and the very top of the range is usually the first to go, long before anyone notices. Years of loud noise speed it up.
Why can I hear a tone on headphones but not on my phone speaker?
Small speakers often cannot play the top of the range at all. Many phone and laptop speakers fade out somewhere above 15 kHz, so silence there may be the speaker rather than your ears. Try the same step on headphones.
Is a high-pitched sound bad for your hearing?
Damage depends on level and time more than on pitch. A tone can be loud even when you cannot hear it, so keep the volume low: raise it only until the lowest step, 8 kHz, is clear, and leave it there.
Sources: OSHA Technical Manual, Noise and HyperPhysics on the 20 Hz to 20 kHz range; National Institute on Aging and MedlinePlus on age-related hearing loss; The Mosquito and NPR, 2006 on the mosquito tone.