"Audio - Science in the Service of Art"

[DrWho]

I thought this article was a very interesting read:
http://www.harmanaudio.com/all_about_audio/audio_art_science.pdf

I especially enjoyed the following bit:

Listeners with hearing loss not only exhibit high judgment variability, they can also exhibit strong
individualistic biases in their judgments. This comes as no surprise, since such individuals are really in search of
a “prosthetic” loudspeaker that somehow compensates for their disability. Since the disabilities vary
enormously, so do the biases.

Toole is amazing, lol.

[Rhynri]

Excellent article, Dr. I feel smarter for just reading it.

Then there is the matter of your comment: "Toole is amazing, lol."

XD

[Groomlakearea51]

I guess I'm in the "short bus audiophile" area..... LOLOL!!!!

[CIGARBUM]

Does that mean I have to chunk my hearing aid or the speakers?? I really didn't think I had a disability in hearing, I just turned it up louder.

CB

[boom3]

Mike, thanks for posting. Toole and Keele are the two best living engineers in this field.

It sounds like the problems Toole cites about bass response could be minimized by one (technically) simple expedient...bass systems designed for corner placement. Paul said (in my hearing) that any speaker could be a corner speaker, I would respectfully disagree...if a system is designed from the ground up to be a corner system, then many problems are solved at once. The corner is the most stable environment for a bass bin, provided that the bass bin and the MF/HF units are optimized for the corner.

[Islander]

Does that mean I have to chunk my hearing aid or the speakers?? I really didn't think I had a disability in hearing, I just turned it up louder.

I thought my hearing was not bad, until I dialed in my sub with some test tones and found my ears have some majors dips and peaks. Some tones were very low-sounding, but read at test level on the meter. Others sounded high to me, but not to the meter. Turning up the volume may sound better, but sure won't fix those frequency response issues, and they were just between 200Hz and 20Hz.

BTW, I was totally unable to hear 20Hz and 25Hz tones. The system measures fairly flat down to 30Hz and rolls off at 25Hz, but it's not like I could tell by listening, so it sounds good to me.

[DrWho]

Does that mean I have to chunk my hearing aid or the speakers?? I really didn't think I had a disability in hearing, I just turned it up louder.

I thought my hearing was not bad, until I dialed in my sub with some test tones and found my ears have some majors dips and peaks. Some tones were very low-sounding, but read at test level on the meter. Others sounded high to me, but not to the meter. Turning up the volume may sound better, but sure won't fix those frequency response issues, and they were just between 200Hz and 20Hz.

BTW, I was totally unable to hear 20Hz and 25Hz tones. The system measures fairly flat down to 30Hz and rolls off at 25Hz, but it's not like I could tell by listening, so it sounds good to me.

Did you try moving the SPL meter closer to where your head was located? What you describe sounds a lot like room modes....not hearing damage []

[Islander]

The meter was as close to my nose as I was able to focus on, but that's worth a try. In the past, if I moved the meter a couple of feet to the left or the right, the numbers would go up and down as much as 5dB, but the other day I was in a hurry and measured only where my head is, with the chair in its usual reclined position for listening.