we’ve gathered a group of volunteers
ranging in ages from 8 to 71 and are
putting them to the test in our first
battle of the ages contest all right you
guys I’m gonna play a series of sounds
and if you can hear the sound I want you
all to raise your hands up your right
hand you’re gonna keep it there all
right for those of you watching at home
feel free to play along
ready 8000 Hertz all right all of you
can hear that first frequency I’m gonna
play another sound in another frequency
if you still hear it keep your hands up
if you can’t bring your hand down 10,000
Hertz okay we seem to have lost our 60
and over crowd you guys look great
though let’s raise the frequency even
more 14,000 Hertz okay we lost you we
lost you you’re very fit I can tell
16,000 Hertz okay it’s 16,000 Hertz
we’ve lost all of our grown-ups but we
still have our youngest members of the
crowd with their hands up Luke tell
everybody how old you are
Oh eight years old fresh ears still can
pick up these faint frequencies nice
work now we’re taking it up to 18,000
Hertz you guys ready 18,000 Hertz we’ve
lost 23 and 19
but the under-18 crowd is intact 18,000
Hertz that’s pretty impressive
enjoy it while it lasts
so how about you at home were you able
to pick up that final tone or were you
left listening to the sound of silence
well either way you may have noticed a
trend as this chart shows the higher the
frequency the younger you typically have
to be to hear that sound so why is that
the case and what does it have to do
with your brain to help answer that
here’s Yale University’s Brian Scholl
sounds out in the world are just
vibrations in the air but what we hear
is determined by patterns of neurons
firing in our brains so the first step
in hearing a sound is to somehow
translate an air vibration into an
electrical neural signal this is done by
microscopic hair cells in our ears
different hair cells are activated by
different frequencies of vibrations in
the air but as we age these hair cells
start to deteriorate so that we
gradually lose the ability to hear these
frequencies what and who knows your kids
could be using a high-frequency ringtone
I’ll take that without you even knowing
so the first point in our battle of the
ages goes to the younger brain but this
next game is going to come down to
experience so older brains should have
the advantage
ranging in ages from 8 to 71 and are
putting them to the test in our first
battle of the ages contest all right you
guys I’m gonna play a series of sounds
and if you can hear the sound I want you
all to raise your hands up your right
hand you’re gonna keep it there all
right for those of you watching at home
feel free to play along
ready 8000 Hertz all right all of you
can hear that first frequency I’m gonna
play another sound in another frequency
if you still hear it keep your hands up
if you can’t bring your hand down 10,000
Hertz okay we seem to have lost our 60
and over crowd you guys look great
though let’s raise the frequency even
more 14,000 Hertz okay we lost you we
lost you you’re very fit I can tell
16,000 Hertz okay it’s 16,000 Hertz
we’ve lost all of our grown-ups but we
still have our youngest members of the
crowd with their hands up Luke tell
everybody how old you are
Oh eight years old fresh ears still can
pick up these faint frequencies nice
work now we’re taking it up to 18,000
Hertz you guys ready 18,000 Hertz we’ve
lost 23 and 19
but the under-18 crowd is intact 18,000
Hertz that’s pretty impressive
enjoy it while it lasts
so how about you at home were you able
to pick up that final tone or were you
left listening to the sound of silence
well either way you may have noticed a
trend as this chart shows the higher the
frequency the younger you typically have
to be to hear that sound so why is that
the case and what does it have to do
with your brain to help answer that
here’s Yale University’s Brian Scholl
sounds out in the world are just
vibrations in the air but what we hear
is determined by patterns of neurons
firing in our brains so the first step
in hearing a sound is to somehow
translate an air vibration into an
electrical neural signal this is done by
microscopic hair cells in our ears
different hair cells are activated by
different frequencies of vibrations in
the air but as we age these hair cells
start to deteriorate so that we
gradually lose the ability to hear these
frequencies what and who knows your kids
could be using a high-frequency ringtone
I’ll take that without you even knowing
so the first point in our battle of the
ages goes to the younger brain but this
next game is going to come down to
experience so older brains should have
the advantage
Please follow and like us: