Who does THIS? Argument for better Subs and Supertweeters?

[ClaudeJ1]

OK, so my questions are: Does the recording engineer apply this as part of his/her procedure? Or, do we do some radical EQ in our listening rooms? Either way, does this sound GOOD and NATURAL on music?? If, so, then ther is a good argument for lots of power down below with mega subs or tapped horns with hot supertweeters on top.

Key points:

* The international standard frequency characteristics of

the human auditory system, playing a role of basic importance in hearing

science and audio engineering, has been fully revised after 18-year studies.

* Japan has made an important role in this revision,

serving as a project leader and providing about 40 % of total data.

* The new standard is expected to be used as basic data

for improving the performance of hearing aids and audio equipment.

* The study is of great significance for setting grounds

to the present evaluation method of noise rating. It will become possible to

enact regulations compliant with the human auditory characteristics.

Synopsis

An international collaborative research group, comprising

Prof. Yôiti Suzuki of Research Institute of Electrical Communications, Tohoku

University, a coordinator; Dr. Kaoru Ashihara, a senior researcher of

Technology Information Department (previously, senior researcher in the

Institute for Human Science and Biomedical Engineering), National Institute of

Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST); Dr. Hisashi Takeshima,

Associate Professor of Electronics Department, Sendai National College of

Technology; Dr. Kenji Ozawa, Associate Professor, Faculty of Engineering,

University of Yamanashi; and five foreign researchers from Germany, Denmark and

the United States, has been engaged in research works on the precision

determination of loudness level contours for sounds, for three years from

fiscal 2000, supported by a grant-in-aid from the New Energy and Industrial

Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

A draft for international standards based on the results

of this work was approved by the International Organization for Standardization

(ISO), and formally enacted as an full revision of ISO 226:1987, on August 15,

2003.

An equal-loudness-level contour represents a frequency

characteristic of the sensitivity of human auditory system, to be drawn by

connecting sound pressure points sounding identically loud for different

frequencies, representing an equal sensation contour in the sound-

pressure-level and frequency plane. This represents one of the fundamental

characteristics of auditory sense, which was internationally standardized as

ISO 226 since 1961. As it was found later, however, that the old ISO 226

involved substantial errors, a continuing work to revise has been carried out

since 1985, without attaining to a finish, despite strong demands from various

fields.

The new equal-loudness-level contours based on the

results of works by the international collaborative research group have been

adopted as the International Standard, ISO 226:2003.

The new standard is characterized as following:

* While the previous standard depended on the British

data in 1950s, the new one is based on international collaboration efforts

involving Germany, Denmark, Japan, UK and USA. In particular, Japan has made

the greatest scientific contribution, providing about 40 % of the total data.

Between the new and the previous standards, very large

differences are recognized up to about 15 dB (decibels) for a wide area of

frequency region lower than 1 kHz. A difference of 10 dB means 10-fold

difference in sound energy, and that of 15 dB corresponds to 30-fold

difference. (Fig.1) The new standard is expected to play a crucially important

role as the basic data for supporting the development of technologies for high

precision audio signal reproduction suited for the DIGITAL era, such as

techniques for efficiently compressing digital signals of music, determination

of optimum frequency characteristics of high-definition audio reproduction

systems, and so on.

The equal-loudness-level contours are closely related to

the measurement and evaluation of noise. Currently, the noise level is measured

through the "A" frequency weighting characteristics, which would

reflect the frequency characteristics of human auditory sense. As a result of

the present work, it was found that the "A" weighting well conformed

with the equal-loudness-level contours. This provides valid grounds for the

current noise evaluation method, and will serve as an important foundation for

developing means for more accurate methods to evaluate and rate various noises.