How high can you hear? Take this 'test' to see how old your ears are!

MUST USE HEADPHONES. Best watch in 1080p.

As we grow older we often lose the extreme ends of our hearing spectrum. So how many of the following sounds can you hear? How old are your ears?

Ok, if you can hear 8,000 hertz you're both alive and not hearing impaired, but let's keep raising the frequency.

How high could you hear?

If you could hear all of those frequencies you're probably under 20 years old. But that won't last forever. Unlike other organs such as the liver or skin, the inner ear has not the capacity to regenerate. In your ear there are thousands of tiny nerve cells called "hair cells". These are responsible for picking up different frequencies and sending the signal to the brain, where it's processed. But as you age, the continual exposure to noise and loud sounds can break, bend and destroy these cells. So why do the high frequencies go first?

It turns out the hairs tuned to high pitches are the first to encounter sound waves. As a result, they experience more stress and tend to degenerate earlier, which is why the older you are, the harder it is to hear high pitches.

Got a burning question you want answered? Ask it in the comments or on Facebook and Twitter. And subscribe for more weekly science videos.

AS= When, while.

EXTREME ENDS= The very beginning and very end of something long.

SPECTRUM= A range of values of a quantity or set of related quantities.

FOLLOWING= Next.

HERTZ= A unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second.

BOTH= We use the correlative connectors BOTH A AND B to emphasize that we include A and also B in what we say:
I like both apples and pears = I like apples and I also like pears
You're both pretty and intelligent = You are pretty and also intelligent

ALIVE= Living, not dead.

HEARING IMPARIRED= (politically correct language) /hɪərɪŋ ɪmpeə*d/ Deaf. (a deaf person can't hear any sounds)

KEEP + ing= Continue.

FREQUENCY= (sound wave) number of cycles per second. If the frequency is high, we hear a high-pitched sound, if the frequency is low, we hear a low-pitched sound. The sound of a baby crying is high-pitched, the sound of a lion roaring is low-pitched.

UNLIKE= Contrary to, different from.

LIVER= a body organ (see picture).

INNER EAR= The part of the ear that is inside your head and you can't see. (see picture)

REGENERATE= To replace (a lost or damaged organ or part) by formation of new tissue.

TINY= Very very little.

CELLS= The smallest structural unit of an organism that is capable of independent functioning

PICKING UP= Taking, receiving.

AGE= (verb) To get older and deteriorate.

LOUD= High in volume.

BEND= To force to assume a different direction or shape.

IT TURNS OUT= It results that; it is found that.

HIGH PITCHES= Sounds with a high frequency. The voice of little babies is high-pitched.

ENCOUNTER= Meet.

TEND TO= If something tends to happen, it usually happens.

DEGENERATE= Deteriorate, get worse, worsen.