Over the course of our life and as we get older, the structures undergo considerable change. One aspect of such a change is that the eardrum (figure above) thickens and affects our hearing. So older people cannot hear as well as the younger ones.
Let us go from biology to its practical effects on our every day life. Recently there was this news item that was based on the biology of aging ears. Yes! there is a deterent technology available to ward off those pesky young pranksters and even more amazingly, kids are now downloading ringtones for their cellphones so that only they (and not those annoying adults) can hear!
Do not believe it yet! Visit this very cool and smart website where you can check out up to what Hz your ears can perceive. Make sure you have a young one when you do this test! I did this test with my daughters and was embarassed to find out that I cannot hear more than 15,000Hz. How did you fare?
Thanks to Think Progress website (warning: it is a progressive political website) where I read this first and for the links.
