The Secret Life of Sound Perception

2396 Words5 Pages

It was only five years ago when I started to understand the importance of sound, but not the way I would have expected. It all began when my friend Marshall Kay invited me over to his shop to take a look at something he had been working on. When I arrived Marshall took me to the back of his shop and into a large room. Once inside I saw a chair which was facing two individual speakers. Marshall asked me to sit down, face the speakers, and close my eyes. He then dimmed the lights and began to play a song. As I listened I was amazed by the quality and clarity of the sound. It was nothing like I had ever heard before. I could hear the sound from directly in front of me, to the far left, far right, and even behind me. I felt like I was in the audience and actually listening to a real orchestra. It was easy to pinpoint both the depth and location of each instrument, and was the most realistic reproduction of sound I had ever heard. After the song was over Marshall asked me what I thought. Initially I was at a loss for words, and could only nod my head. I pulled my thoughts together and began to ask questions. “Is this a trick?” “Where are the other speakers?” He laughed to himself and said “only the two that you see across from you.” Puzzled I racked my brain frantically to comprehend this phenomenon. Marshall explained that our brains are trained to fill in the sound that is not really there, and this was known as a phantom stereo image. I was amazed by how wonderful and exciting this one listening experience had been. I knew right then and there that I was hooked on sound quality and wanted to learn more. I wanted other people to experience the same sensation I had that day. I began to wonder if sound quality really matters, and if pe...

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...the first time with a flat frequency response. Almost everyone would agree music sounds the best on certain speakers even if they did not like a specific genre that came from another culture.

Works Cited

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Koehl, Vincent, and Mathieu Paquier. “Loudspeaker Sound Quality: Comparison of Assessment Procedures.” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 123.5 (2008). Web. 2073-78. 05 July 2011.

“Loudspeaker.” World of Invention. Gale, 2006. Gale Science in Context. Web. 20 June 2011.

Toole, Floyd E. “Audio-Science in the Service of Art.” Harmon Audio. Harmon International Industries, Incorporated, 19 Aug. 1999. Web. 20 June 2011.

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