Audible range

All you can perceive with your ears is sound. The ears are our “receiving organ”. One speaks of the so-called auditory area when frequency (pitch) and sound intensity (level) are within the perception range of the human ear. Important measurements for this are: frequency (Hz) and sound level (dB).

The human ear can only perceive sound in a frequency range of 16 Hz to 20,000 Hz at pressure fluctuations of 0.000.02 Pa to 20 Pa. This range is known as the human auditory range. If you plot these frequencies and the pressure fluctuations in a diagram, you get the hearing range as one area in this diagram. This is why it is also called the listening area.

The upper limit is the pain threshold. If it is exceeded, we no longer perceive the sound in question as an acoustic impression. Even short-term exposure causes pain and damage to the ear. The lower limit is the hearing threshold. If it is undercut, we also no longer perceive pressure fluctuations as an acoustic impression. We hear nothing.

Physical examinations are often based on a frequency of 1000 Hz. This is also the range in which the pressure fluctuations perceived by the ear show the greatest difference.
The sensitivity of the ear changes with age. In particular, the sensitivity for higher frequencies decreases. This means that older people generally hear higher tones less well or not at all.