"It's hell getting old!"

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
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Seattle, WA
That was the line my late grandfather in law, may he rest in peace, would say often as he lived to his 90s. "It is hell getting old...."

A few days ago I was preparing a wav file that represents the jitter test signal: J-Test. This is an 12 Khz tone that has a tiny squarewave riding on it. I googled and googled forever and it was near impossible to find this test file! You would think this test file is on some file server but no. Eventually I find a program that generates it. Alas, the program was compiled long time ago and would not run on my Windows 7 machine even in compatibility mode. The source code was provided but it would not compile in recent versions of Visual Studio (program development tool from Microsoft).

After a day of debugging, I finally get it working. I double click on the media player and it accepted the file and started to play it on my laptop. I could not hear it at the default volume so I pull it into my audio editing app and see the waveform is there. With lots of joy, I burn a CD and go and test it with my analyzer in my lab downstairs.

Then my 19 year old son shows up worried saying, "Dad, the hot water heater alarm has gone off." I have this moisture detection alarm in our HVAC room where it has saved our bacon multiple times by going off when it detected leaks. So I rush there and open the door. There is no water. And I do not hear the alarm. I ask my son what he was talking about. He says he is still hearing the same kind of tone.

I go upstairs and my wife says she is is also hearing it. Of course I hear nothing. We start to search the house to see what alarm may have gotten off. Right then both say it stopped. Then I remember that the test CD I had built had 10 copies of the one minute J-test track so it would have been running for 10 minutes on my laptop in the living room and then stop. I start the player again and both say they can hear the high pitch sound. Well, I could not at all. But at least the mystery was solved.

Mind you, this is from my laptop with tiny speakers and at some low level. So likely I can still hear 12 Khz. But boy, compared to them I am pretty deaf. It sure is hell getting old....." :)
 
meanwhile .. we audiophiles, here on the WBF, most of us here in your age category are fussing over response above 20 KHz ... :rolleyes:
 
That was the line my late grandfather in law, may he rest in peace, would say often as he lived to his 90s. "It is hell getting old...."

A few days ago I was preparing a wav file that represents the jitter test signal: J-Test. This is an 12 Khz tone that has a tiny squarewave riding on it. I googled and googled forever and it was near impossible to find this test file! You would think this test file is on some file server but no. Eventually I find a program that generates it. Alas, the program was compiled long time ago and would not run on my Windows 7 machine even in compatibility mode. The source code was provided but it would not compile in recent versions of Visual Studio (program development tool from Microsoft).

After a day of debugging, I finally get it working. I double click on the media player and it accepted the file and started to play it on my laptop. I could not hear it at the default volume so I pull it into my audio editing app and see the waveform is there. With lots of joy, I burn a CD and go and test it with my analyzer in my lab downstairs.

Then my 19 year old son shows up worried saying, "Dad, the hot water heater alarm has gone off." I have this moisture detection alarm in our HVAC room where it has saved our bacon multiple times by going off when it detected leaks. So I rush there and open the door. There is no water. And I do not hear the alarm. I ask my son what he was talking about. He says he is still hearing the same kind of tone.

I go upstairs and my wife says she is is also hearing it. Of course I hear nothing. We start to search the house to see what alarm may have gotten off. Right then both say it stopped. Then I remember that the test CD I had built had 10 copies of the one minute J-test track so it would have been running for 10 minutes on my laptop in the living room and then stop. I start the player again and both say they can hear the high pitch sound. Well, I could not at all. But at least the mystery was solved.

Mind you, this is from my laptop with tiny speakers and at some low level. So likely I can still hear 12 Khz. But boy, compared to them I am pretty deaf. It sure is hell getting old....." :)

I'm sure that you're other senses compensate for the one's deficiencies, amirm! :)
 
It reminds me of a few lines from the classic movie "Christmas Vacation.......

Aunt Bethany: What's that sound? You hear it? It's a funny squeaky sound.
Uncle Lewis: You couldn't hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant.
 
If that's the worst of your complaints about getting old, you're lucky.
What about the automatic moan or grunt that emanates very time you stand up :) When it starts to become a little gaseous escape then you're getting really old :)
What about the migration of hair from your head to your ears & nose :)
What about the trousers that you search out which has expandable waist bands :)
And if these are the worst complaints you have then you're also lucky :)

BTW, don't spend too much time agonising over the audibility of single tone test signals - there's a lot more to music reproduction & I often wonder how much of the performance is being missed by those who can't hear above 12Khz - I bet it's a tiny fraction, if any at all!
 
I'll say....... this will be the second week spending most of the time on my back. It's hell getting old :(

Sciatic nerve trouble? Sorry to hear, wish you a speedy recovery
 
Sciatic nerve trouble? Sorry to hear, wish you a speedy recovery

Yes - sounds like it's quite a common problem with getting old. Thanks for the good wishes. This week I'm well enough to lean up and work on a laptop in bed :)
 
You're fine, Amir. Not much information up there in most recordings and what is there doesn't matter much. So unless you're worried about hearing test tones, you're probably good.

Tim
 
Yes - sounds like it's quite a common problem with getting old. Thanks for the good wishes. This week I'm well enough to lean up and work on a laptop in bed :)

Yep, I can trace mine to something I did 17 years ago but in the last 10 years it gives me a lot of problems.
I have found that staying hydrated helps a lot i.e drink plenty of water! Of course the magic tablets have to be resorted to every now & then but less so in the last number of years.

Another one of the issues of getting old - opening packaging is a nightmare & reading instructions comprising of black lettering on red backgrounds :)
 
Glad you're feeling better Gary! I know all about the pain and discomfort having had to live with it for the last 25 or so years. I slipped and fell on my back coming down the front steps of my porch. Hit the corner of the top step about one inch left of the centre of my lower spine. I haven't been the same since.

Stay safe and be well my friend!
 
Yes - sounds like it's quite a common problem with getting old.
Not necessarily. I had significant sciatica since I was a young man and it resulted in great pain and some muscle wasting until I signed on for physical therapy. I had resisted this for years but, damn, it worked and I have not had a recurrence in more than 10 years. Getting older doesn't suck (although one has to consider the options in context).
 
"If only I knew then what I know now, if only I could do now what I could do then." Anonymous.

There are trade-offs - hopefully, being wiser we do less physically. But I didn't follow my own advice to take it easy, and that resulted in my missing one of my bucket list items - watching the Monaco Grand Prix live.
 
"If only I knew then what I know now, if only I could do now what I could do then." Anonymous.

There are trade-offs - hopefully, being wiser we do less physically. But I didn't follow my own advice to take it easy, and that resulted in my missing one of my bucket list items - watching the Monaco Grand Prix live.

Thats a great idea for a fun thread!

And unless the Monaco Grand prix is cancelled you could still make it! Never say, never!
 
Getting old is just annoying. Death is hell.
 

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