Human Hearing Range: What Federal Sources Say

The range in hertz: what MedlinePlus and the NIDCD write

Pitch is a matter of frequency, and NIOSH, the federal institute for workplace safety and health, states the unit plainly: "Frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz)." MedlinePlus, the consumer site of the National Library of Medicine, gives the span: "The normal range of human hearing is about 20 to 20,000 Hz." The same article sets landmarks inside that span: it places deep bass notes at around 50 to 60 Hz and piercing, very high tones at around 10,000 Hz or above. Human speech, on the same page, sits between 250 and 4,000 Hz.

The NIDCD, the NIH institute for hearing, explains where in the ear those pitches are told apart. Inside the cochlea, "hair cells near the wide end of the snail-shaped cochlea detect higher-pitched sounds, such as an infant crying," while "those closer to the center detect lower-pitched sounds, such as a large dog barking."

These sources describe the human ear in general. None of them says which range one person should hear at a given age, and this page doesn't either: that is what an audiologist's test measures, and reading its result is the audiologist's job.

Loudness in decibels: the levels federal sources name

Loudness is the other axis of the range, measured in decibels (dB). MedlinePlus puts a whisper at about 20 dB. The NIDCD rates normal conversation at 60 to 70 A-weighted decibels (dBA), and its noise page draws its line for long exposure at 70 dBA: it raises no concern about sounds at or below that level, however long they last.

At the loud end, the federal figures are workplace limits rather than a ceiling of hearing. NIOSH recommends a limit of 85 dBA over an eight-hour shift, with a 3 dB exchange rate. OSHA's rule, 29 CFR 1910.95, permits 90 dBA for 8 hours a day. Our safe decibel levels page sets out those rules row by row.

How a hearing test measures your range, and what it pays

A hearing test maps one person's range tone by tone. MedlinePlus explains that the audiogram is a chart of the quietest level at which each tone is heard. Among the normal results it lists is "the ability to hear tones from 250 to 8,000 Hz at 25 dB or lower in detailed audiometry." So the clinical test covers a band narrower than the 20 to 20,000 Hz of the full range, and its 25 dB mark sits just above the level of about 20 dB that the same article gives for a whisper.

Medicare pays for these tests under audiology codes. For 2026, CMS's national office amounts are $40.42 for 92552, $49.10 for 92553 and $35.74 for 92557, before local adjustment; they are payments to the clinician, not what a patient owes. We don't reprint the official code descriptions, which the American Medical Association holds the copyright to. The hearing test cost page adds hospital cash prices and the other audiology codes, and our page on whether Medicare covers a hearing test explains when Part B pays.

The frequencies OSHA's workplace rule tests

Federal law fixes its own slice of the range for workers exposed to noise. Under OSHA's noise standard, 29 CFR 1910.95, audiometric tests are "pure tone, air conduction, hearing threshold examinations," at frequencies that include as a minimum 500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 and 6,000 Hz, on audiometers that meet ANSI S3.6-1969.

The same rule defines a standard threshold shift as "a change in hearing threshold relative to the baseline audiogram of an average of 10 dB or more at 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz in either ear." It is a workplace measure set by the rule, not a medical finding, and it shows which frequencies a federal rule watches most closely in a noisy workplace.

Set side by side, the bands differ. MedlinePlus puts speech at 250 to 4,000 Hz and the tones of detailed audiometry at 250 to 8,000 Hz, while the minimum list in OSHA's rule starts at 500 Hz and stops at 6,000 Hz. A workplace audiogram that tests only that minimum list therefore leaves out the 250 Hz tone that both MedlinePlus figures start from.