You know that weird, high pitched noise you can hear in one ear occasionally—that no one else can hear? It is not aliens trying to communicate with you, nor the ridiculously loud movie you saw at the cinema the night before. It is your body’s way of shutting off your ability to hear that frequency of noise, forever.
You may not know this unless you are a teenager, but police will often use a high frequency sound emitter outside stores and shops where there are loitering youth. The sound is unbearable to the young people, but older passer-byers can’t hear it at all. This is because as you age, you are able to hear increasingly less high pitched frequencies. Many kids have caught on to this, setting their ring tone to a frequency adults can’t hear so that they can receive text messages in class without teachers suspecting a thing. Test your hearing age here >>
Sound is made of pressure waves that oscillate, or alternate, between compressing and stretching the medium, or matter, they travel through (in our case, air) at a certain frequency. The higher the frequency at which a sound wave oscillates, the higher the resulting sound’s pitch you hear when that wave hits your eardrums. Your brain’s perception of pitch relies on how many of these compression changes your eardrum senses per second. The wave that creates the sound of a standard whistle oscillates at a relatively high frequency, so the resulting sound is very high-pitched. The rumbling of a boat engine is produced by low-frequency oscillation, so we hear it as a very low-pitched noise.
Humans are born being able to hear a wide range of frequencies, but we certainly can’t hear everything—especially sounds on the higher end of the frequency spectrum. For example, there are dog whistles that dogs can hear but we can’t. That’s because dogs’ ears have evolved to detect such high-frequency sounds. Similarly, it has recently been discovered that elephants communicate over long distances using super-low-frequency sound that we are also unable to hear.
Sound, and the quality of sound we hear, is important. We can all relate to how different a song sounds on an old, fuzzy radio, versus a 5-speaker Bose system. It is almost as if it is a different song. The same goes for speaking on the phone: contrast a customer service agent that sounds like they are talking through a tin can with one that sounds like they are across the table from you. It makes an enormous difference to your customer experience. This is why in the early days, a VoIP phone system was historically not seen as reliable enough for proper business phone systems. But nowadays, voice over IP can be just as, if not more clear, than any traditional phone line. Hence the widespread move to a VoIP phone system by businesses across the UK.
We may not be able to avoid the natural hearing loss of higher frequencies as we age. But we can largely control the quality of sounds we are able to hear now. Like good shoes and a good bed, good noise is one of those things that may seem small, but actually has a big impact on our overall well being. So consider getting rid of the old kitchen radio that is never that clear, the mobile phone that sounds like it is underwater, and the cheap office desk phone you can’t be bothered to replace, and upgrade to items that enhance sound. Your ears will be grateful.
Read interesting facts about hearing here >>
About VTSL
VTSL is a business phone systems and connectivity provider offering unified communications solutions to companies across the UK & Ireland. Having perfected the VoIP phone system, VTSL offer guaranteed voice quality, three dozen free features and low per, user monthly billing. For more information on business phone systems or for a quote on a VoIP phone system, call VTSL today on 020 7078 3200.
