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The invention of measurements and perception

This is going to be pretty airy-fairy. Sorry.

Let’s talk about how measurements get invented, and how this limits us.

One of the great works of engineering, science, and data is finding signals in the noise. What matters? Why? How much?

My background is in computer science, and a little in electrical engineering. So the question of what to measure to make systems (audio and computer) "better" is always on my mind.

What’s often missing in measurements is "pleasure" or "satisfaction."

I believe in math. I believe in statistics, but I also understand the limitations. That is, we can measure an attribute, like "interrupts per second" or "inflamatory markers" or Total Harmonic Distortion plus noise (THD+N)

However, measuring them, and understanding outcome and desirability are VERY different. Those companies who can do this excel at creating business value. For instance, like it or not, Bose and Harman excel (in their own ways) at finding this out. What some one will pay for, vs. how low a distortion figure is measured is VERY different.

What is my point?

Specs are good, I like specs, I like measurements, and they keep makers from cheating (more or less) but there must be a link between measurements and listener preferences before we can attribute desirability, listener preference, or economic viability.

What is that link? That link is you. That link is you listening in a chair, free of ideas like price, reviews or buzz. That link is you listening for no one but yourself and buying what you want to listen to the most.

E
erik_squires
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Three things to try at home before passing judgement on what affects perception of sound and what doesn’t.

1. Remove all telephone books from the house or apartment and listen again.
2. Remove all cell phones from the house and listen again.
3. Remove all old newspapers and magazines from the house and listen again.
4. Take as many CDs and or LPs as you can carry outside and listen again.

You be the judge. You are the decider.
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
A hoarder? You mean like someone who has 3,000 CDs and or 10,000 LPs? 😛
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Jea48, No matter how you store them taking CDs or LPs out of the house improves the sound. Quite a bit, actually. Very shocking. What does that Mean? It means CDs and LPs are bad for the sound. Is that ironic? Yes. Is that a contradiction? Not really. But it has nothing to do with resonance or damping or any such thing. The better sound was in the room before, you just couldn’t hear it properly or completely. Of course, we don’t want to talk about this sort of thing too much. 😛 in any case, you would almost certainly be unable to measure any differences with an SPL meter .....or anything else. You can’t fool Mother Nature. That’s why I oft say perception of sound doesn’t necessarily lend itself to measurement. And when I use that term perception of sound I use it synonymously with hearing. There’s no difference. It’s all hearing.
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