We learn music in different areas of the brain than other language
skills. Do we therefore learn to hear differences in the reproduction
of musical sounds in a similar way? I have no idea. This is also
different from what the OP intended, but a lot more interesting.
Indeed, it is so interesting I started not one, not two, but THREE threads trying to discuss this very topic! Two of them were trashed by the usual know-nothings so fast and thoroughly I had them removed. The third I had to close but left up since it had managed to accumulate information some might find useful.
Among the many mysteries of learning to listen, there are THREE TIMES as many ear cells devoted to detecting frequencies ABOVE AND BEYOND our so-called audible limit (20kHz) and that is just for starters.
Functional MRI shows we do process music and language in different areas. What I find most fascinating, why I started the discussions, there are many aspects of sounds we do not seem capable of hearing without the language to describe them.
Which comes first, the words or the hearing? I know from experience I was unable to hear any difference between various DACs and CDP until after I read Harley's book (see above) and learned some of these terms. Then slowly, gradually, I began to become aware of some of these same sonic attributes I was hearing.
Attack, body or sustain, decay. Resolution, grainy or liquid. Timbre. And a lot more. All these are there with every sound, be it cymbal or guitar string. At some point it hit me, the words became associated with the sounds, and from that point on they became increasingly easy to identify. Before this happened all I could say was one sounds a little better. But I couldn't say why, couldn't even be sure. That all changed and now it is easy, both to hear and almost always the differences are also easy to describe. It is more a question of how much time do we have and how much detail do you want? Where before it was just, "better, sort of."
Pretty sure I know how this happens. How we learn. It is like I said before, repetition literally re-wires the brain. New neural connections are made. Like learning to drive a car or golf ball it doesn't "just happen". Nobody ever learned to hit home runs by just swinging the bat a lot. The usual advice people give to just listen a lot, while better than nothing just ain't gonna do it. You need to be actively listening, actively thinking about what you are hearing, not just comparing one thing with another but thinking about how what you are hearing aligns with terms like liquid/grainy, extended/rolled off, recessed/forward, etc.
In other words I think how we learn audio is no different than how we learn other skills like rock climbing, performance driving, etc. We don't just go play a lot of tennis, we read books, watch the pro's, get a coach to learn how to swing the racquet, and then practice, practice, practice. But it does no good to practice the wrong technique. Bad habits are harder to unlearn than good ones are to learn. So the learning how to do it right part has to come first.
