| Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
January 9, 2008 - 9:03am
#1
Stereo ears
| Loudspeakers Amplification Digital Sources | |
Analog Sources Accessories Featured | |
Music Columns Retired Columns | |
Show Reports | |
Features Latest News Community | |
Resources Subscriptions |
© 2024 StereophileAVTech Media Americas Inc., USA
All rights reserved
This is correct, and reported in detail HERE in an entirely different context.
Note that in a domestic size listening room, the changes from small changes in head position are reduced dramatically when the room is treated properly with absorption at the first reflection points.
--Ethan
...i think itwould be interesting in that connection, to include the rendition room properties into a sound field synthesis.
The procedure is described by http://www.syntheticwave.de
H.
Ethan:
I don't think your comb filtering effect is what is responsible for improving the brains ability to locate the source of a sound. I did read up on your references to this effect last time you mentioned it.
Rather, the ear can
a) process the minute differences in phase between the various reflections, which results in a sort of triangulation
b) differentiate between sounds coming from different angles relative to the ear, due to the shape of the ear
The first is discussed in both articles, the second is perhaps my own speculation, though the principle might have been mentioned in the Sacks book.
... and incidentally, I have been thinking about this when listening, and even just keeping an awareness that your neck is "active and engaged" is enough to enhance the sense of positioning. You don't actually need to do dramatic gyrations to sharpen your perspective.
I agree in principle, but the triangulation probably uses comb filtering more than phase shift. Phase shift is mostly inaudible, but comb filtering is very audible. So it makes more sense to me that the wildly different response at each ear has more effect than small changes in phase. But I've never tested this so I'm just going by common sense.
--Ethan
... here comes Idle Speculation, the enemy of reason.
My take on comb filtering as you've presented, is that it is a sort of jumble of sound from reflections on reflections, etc. Like the confused sea when multiple wave sources combine.
Hard to see how that would contribute to locating sound sources, despite being audible.
According to the sources cited, just as we can pick up relatively faint sounds out of a confused mix -- distant voice in an airport -- so can we use micro details to pinpoint location.
Besides, your manifesto claims that comb filtering is the root of all evil, while I testify that freeing up your head on your neck (no hair band head banging required) to make tiny adjustments while listening attentively is a good thing.
I think you miss my point. In a typical rectangle room the most damaging reflections are the "first" reflections from the side walls, ceiling, and floor if no carpet. Yes, other reflections combine with those, but they're much softer. That said, comb filtering is the enemy of localization. That is, it doesn't help localization, it harms it.
Well, the root of many acoustic problems anyway.
--Ethan