Re: [Jack-Devel] Network Audio Transmission - Quality

On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 03:45:10PM -0400, Paul Davis wrote:
> There is no evidence that acoustic perception can be trained There may be
> specific characteristics of compressed (or even just digitally sampled
> audio) that one can learn to look for. The problem is that every time some
> "golden eared" listener attempts to explan what they are, double blind
> testing suggests that they are wrong.

I haven't done a formal double blind test, but I regularly test colleagues
(and vice versa) by playing mp3s and wav files without telling the listener
which is which. The success rate with certain listeners is close to 100%.

Double blind tests prove that a particular set of listeners in a particular
set of circumstances can or can't hear something. The circumstances are
important. I know that if I'm tired or stressed I find it more difficult to
concentrate well enough to hear subtle differences, for example.

I agree that physical perception of sounds can not be trained, but I do
believe that the ability to distinguish certain elements in what we are
hearing can be improved by training.

John

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