Re: frequency to mel formula

[Julius Smith <jos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jim,

Do you have a feel for why the mel scale is used instead of, say, 
Bark or ERB scales?

Just curious,
Julius

At 11:11 AM 7/15/2009, James W. Beauchamp wrote:
> Dear List,
>
> On the Wikipedia page
>   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_frequency_scale
>
> a formula for computing frequency in terms of mels is given as:
>
> mel = log(1 + fr/700)*1127 .
>
> It is easily inverted to fr = 700*exp(mel/1127 - 1) .
>
> My question is: Where do these formulas come from? I.e., I need
> a journal reference for these formulas.
>
> Thanks much,
>
> Jim Beauchamp
> Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"Anybody who knows all about nothing knows everything" -- Leonard Susskind