Hearing more accurate than previously thought?

[BufordTJustice]

Outstanding article on a recent scholarly study:

http://www.audioholics.com/news/human-hearing-accurate-linear

"This research has significant implications for many fields of audio processing including speech recognition and development of audio compression codecs, such as mp3, which typically assume human auditory processing functions as a bank of linear filters. The test results also have ramifications for neuroscience in that it directly shows training as affecting and improving the limits of human perception. Purely in audiophile terms, the results make it clear that the human ability to discern accuracy in audio reproduction cannot be adequately described using just a simple frequency response plot, as is often assumed. Humans, particularly those with musical training, can discern much finer variations than these plots can reveal. This is something I personally have long suspected to be the case."

[Chane M&C]

[padgman1]

This comment by Jon on AVS today is a different extension on this topic, but I found it very apropos.............(unfortunately, I can't paste Jon's comments from the AVS page, so I am providing the page it is on.....) http://www.avsforum.com/t/1498412/is...the-speaker/30

[Spawn101]

I know that this is digging up an ancient thread, but it's the first I have seen it. In this day and age where we are constantly being told to "listen to the science" I found the video quite refreshing. It seems that everyone has forgotten what the scientific method actually is. A hypothesis is only correct as long as the evidence supports it. New evidence should always be brought in to the hypothesis. It will either support the theory or disprove it. No science should ever be considered "settled". We never know when or how new evidence will present itself.

[BufordTJustice]

I know that this is digging up an ancient thread, but it's the first I have seen it. In this day and age where we are constantly being told to "listen to the science" I found the video quite refreshing. It seems that everyone has forgotten what the scientific method actually is. A hypothesis is only correct as long as the evidence supports it. New evidence should always be brought in to the hypothesis. It will either support the theory or disprove it. No science should ever be considered "settled". We never know when or how new evidence will present itself.

Agree 1000%

I get very irritated every time I read a condescending post on an online forum where some “educated” member informs another member that what the other person is hearing in their own room is “false”. That we can’t trust our own hearing.

I’ve watched too many musicians tune their own instruments BY EAR to even acknowledge that comment as an informed one, much less agree with it. How does anybody play an instrument or sing if they can’t trust their own hearing???

It’s a self licking ice cream cone, that answer. It’s obvious that the assertion of “your crappy ears and weak mind lie to you “ is a false one.

Do I trust that my buddy who tuned his Taylor just before a show nailed the tuning? He11 yeah I do because I watched him verify it using the tuner in his rack. Witnessed this countless thousands of times (with several thousand live shows under my belt as an Audio engineer). And again with vocalists.

Now, do new listeners require significant amounts of assistance as they refine their ability to hear? ABSOLUTELY!! Just as new musicians have a variety of tools and learning aids that they employ to refine their abilities.

However, it would seem that there is a “scientific establishment” as portrayed by the pro scientism crowd. One that desires to force everybody to abandon their own five senses in favor of synthetic analogs (thuh measurements!!!). I submit that this movement makes listeners dumber and less proficient.

For Pete’s sake, take an auto tuner and put it on your music stand with the rest of the orchestra. Laughs. Sneers. You might even get excused on the spot by the conductor. If you’re that inept, YOU’RE NOT A MUSICIAN.

Telling people to ignore their own five senses sounds a lot like the same crowd that got angry at Galileo for suggesting that MAYBE the earth isn’t the center of the universe. How dare he!

It’s that burn-them-at-the-stake vibe. As a professional Audio engineer, an expert witness in courts of law on forensic Audio analysis and enhancement, and a full AES member.... I simply do not accept the ‘weak mind’ hypothesis.