Human Hearing and Audio.
This page provides links to sets of webpages that consider some ways in which the properties of human hearing may affect our perception of the sound quality of audio systems.
The page linked below gives a version of the content of an article published in the April 2004 issue of Hi Fi News. It explains some of the recent discoveries that physiologists have made about the non-linear nature of human hearing, and speculates on some of the possible implications these may have for the percieved performance of audio equipment.
The pages linked below are a version of an article published in the November 2004 issue of Hi Fi News. This examines the possible effect of ‘pre-ringing’ in audio filters when we take into account some of the nonlinear properties of human hearing. This pre-ringing is a feature of some of the time-symmetric (non dispersive) filters employed in items like CD players. In recent years there has been some controversy about the possible audible effects of the use of such filters.
The next set of links are to pages that relate to the above article. They provide some additional background material that was omitted from the printed article due to the need to limit the size of the printed version.
The next link is to a page that outlines how human hearing may deteriorate as a result of age or damage. It also considers how we can sometimes make speech from TV, radio, etc, more intelligible. The following webpage is based upon an article published in Living with Technology magazine.
