Someone at another forum asked if it was a problem only being able to hear up to 16,000Hz. I thought I'd post my reply here, as a little research brought up some interesting info.
Don't fret. That's about my range right now. I'm in my mid 30's. It was the bass phase in my teens and 20's. I still have subs in the truck, but they're used for music, and not to impress. There's really not too many instruments that produce Hz over 3300, so it's not a big deal. Dynamic DTS DVD's are a bit higher, but still no where close to our limits of hearing. Harmonics do go higher, but 16kHz is still very good for hearing range.
At 16kHz, you're talking about your tv or pc monitors "whine" at these limits and above - not music or movies.
Keep in mind that 16kHz depends on the dB you are listening. For example, a 20 Hz tone requires from 85 to 90 dB SPL to be audible, 10 Hz (infrasound - yes, it can be audible) about 100 dB SPL and 2 Hz needs over 120 dB SPL. Check out the Wanamaker Organ in Philly.
http://theatreorgans.com/pa/philly/WANN/index.HTM
The pipe organ in St Alban’s Cathedral, for example, can play a bottom C at 16.4Hz, four octaves below middle C. Check out the organ pipes in any large cathedral and there’s a high probability you’ll see some 32-footers. Sydney Town Hall, Australia, and the Atlantic City Convention Hall, USA, both have extremely rare 64-foot pipes that produce notes as low as 8.2Hz in frequency!
The lower limit of hearing is only slightly lower than the lowest key of the piano - the "la" of the subcontraoctave. Beginning from about the age of twenty years, the upper limit of hearing begins to decline. The speed of this decline is about one Hz a day. The sharpness of hearing is most acute between 2000 and 5000 Hz. Others will say a peak of sensitivity between 1000 and 5000 Hz.
A violins upper limit is just over 2600, and a harp just over 3300 Hz.
In comparison, the lower limit instruments are the double bass at 41 Hz, the contrabassoon at 29 Hz, the harp at 30 Hz, and the bass trumbone at 61Hz.
A piano’s bottom note C vibrates at roughly 33Hz. Top C on the piano vibrates at around 4190Hz, a mid-range frequency where human hearing is extremely acute. To seem as loud as top C, bottom C needs to make a sound that is roughly a thousand times more powerful (in acoustic terms, 30dB louder).
References: Rossing, Science of Sound, p 219, White & White p 280
