Headphone Frequency Response and Internet Hearing Tests

Hi,

I've been observing that people tend to "self-test" their hearing with internet hearing tests. I'd like to remind you all that the results may not be even close to reliable if you don't know the frequency response of your headphones (or speakers). Especially if you are testing your hearing above 8kHz.

There is plenty of mid-range headphones which lose their "power" above 10kHz and there can be over 30dB differences between 3000Hz and 12500Hz. With cheap headphones this difference may be even greater.

Additionally even the high-end headphones (excluding some studio headphones) will have "dips and slopes" in their frequency response. This is because they are designed to sound pleasant while watching a movie/listening music etc.

If you have headphones from one of the well-known manufacturers you may find them and check the actualy measured frequency response from here: http://www.headphone.com/pages/build-a-graph