Subject: Re: NYT article mentions the psychoacoustics of loudspeaker reproduction From: "Beerends, J.G. (John)" <john.beerends@xxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2011 10:05:10 +0000 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>Interesting paper but I cannot resist the temptation to explain two points that are missing in the paper: 1) There are two different reproduction strategies, HERE+NOW verus THERE+THEN, the paper only deals with THERE+THEN while in some cases you want HERE+NOW requiring an anechoic recording + reproduction by a single loudspeaker having the same directivity behaviour as the recorded source (e.g. high quality voice reproduction will use this approach). 2) When you strive for THERE+THEN you should apply independent diffuse field equalization, its not clear whether this has been applied, all commercial products that are now on the markted do not apply this principle, Acoustic Reseach tried it in the 80's [1]. Claiming that people liked the sound is not enough, testing HERE+NOW is simple just use a curtain and play LIVE versus RECORDED; testing THERE+THEN is extremely difficult due to the binaural de-colorization effect. John Beerends [1] K. L. Kantor and A. P. Koster, "A psychoacoustically optimized loudspeaker," J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 34, pp. 990-996, (1986 Dec.). -----Original Message----- From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception [mailto:AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Maher, Rob Sent: dinsdag 6 september 2011 21:38 To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx Subject: NYT article mentions the psychoacoustics of loudspeaker reproduction A general-interest article from yesterday's New York Times concerning psychoacoustics, and quoting several familiar contributors: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/science/06sound.html September 5, 2011 "Sound, the Way the Brain Prefers to Hear It" By GUY GUGLIOTTA [snip] "Everyone knows the sound of a bowling ball as it rolls down the alley," said William M. Hartmann, a Michigan State University physicist and former president of the Acoustical Society of America. "What is it about that sound that we can identify?" [end snip] -- Rob Maher Montana State University-Bozeman This e-mail and its contents are subject to the DISCLAIMER at http://www.tno.nl/emaildisclaimer