Study proposes reference data for very high-frequency hearing
Among adults with normal standard-range hearing, average very high-frequency thresholds ranged from −12.5 to 97.5 decibels of hearing level.
Our read
Biomarkers- Studied:
- Cross-sectional study of 717 adults
- What changed:
- Average very high-frequency hearing thresholds ranged from −12.5 to 97.5 dB HL among adults with normal standard-range hearing
- The catch:
- Repeatability alone does not identify cutoffs for difficulties understanding speech in noise
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
The 717 adults aged 18–88—438 women and 279 men—underwent hearing tests in an observational study proposing reference data for very high frequencies. Testing covered both standard and very high frequencies, using typical clinical equipment. Researchers calculated averages of the faintest sounds participants could hear at four frequencies in each range. Higher thresholds meant poorer hearing.
The 62 participants retested within a year showed excellent repeatability for very high-frequency thresholds. Men had poorer average hearing than women in both frequency ranges. Even participants with normal standard-range hearing had widely varying very high-frequency results. The authors concluded that setting reference limits or using four-frequency averages in this range was feasible.
Why it matters
Assessing hearing as people age raises the question of what tests beyond the standard frequency range can add. The authors suggest that very high-frequency measurements could help outpatient diagnosis.
Caveats
Repeatable hearing measurements alone do not establish which very high-frequency cutoff best identifies difficulties in daily life, such as understanding speech in noise.
- Resources: datasets, atlases and tools
- Audiometric threshold
- Extended high frequency pure tone average
- Standard and extended high-frequency pure-tone averages
- Standard frequency pure tone average
- Humans
The paper
Reference Data Set of Extended High-Frequency Audiometry in Young, Middle, and Older Populations
College of Behavioral & Community Sciences
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, Nov 11, 2026
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