Swerd
12-23-2003, 01:14 PM
Why do we like high fidelity sound? There are many reasons, but the one that keeps me coming back is the entertainment I get from the illusion of hearing music performed in front of me. A while back there was a post asking what is your definition of an audiophile. I would add that it is someone who not only likes reproduced sound for its content and accuracy, but also enjoys the illusion created by sound systems that make recorded music sound as if the musicians are present in the same room as you are.
This illusion of three-dimensional presence from a recording is a different experience from enjoying content whether it is music or a movie. We have binaural hearing and binocular vision, and our brains are very quick at taking the raw visual and aural data and processing it into a three-dimensional picture. Many other animals may have sharper vision, or more sensitive ears, but only a few other animals may be as good as we are at the mental recreation process. Primates, most predators like dogs, cats and bears, and most birds, especially the predatory birds have binocular vision and binaural hearing, and I assume they have the mental ability to process that input. It would be interesting to know what whales and dolphins do with their ability to generate and hear sounds over very long distances under water. I dobut if any of these animals are capable of enjoying music like we do.
Most of us who like this audio illusion want to know, how do I get more of it? Is it caused by improved electronic and audio equipment? Sure, but that is only part of it. Our brains also create it. For reasons none of us understand, the human brain, along with the eyes and ears, does a remarkable job of creating a map of the world we live in. Sometimes this ability has led to some truly remarkable discoveries, and perhaps as often it has led to some truly bizarre misconceptions. History is full of examples, such as the widespread belief in 15th century Europe that the world must be flat. Right or wrong, our brains are constantly at work processing what we take in.
Our brains are extremely good at taking limited information, usually collected by our eyes and ears, and working it up into a reconstructed picture (image, vision, etc.) of what we think is actually out there. All of us do this to varying degrees; it is human nature to do it. Maybe it is what makes humans such good explorers, scientists, and philosophers. Think of the prehistoric human hunters and gatherers. There are other animals that are much better hunters, they have better vision, hearing, and sense of smell, and may be stronger and faster, but I believe only humans are capable of tracking their prey. Humans learned to look at footprints left by animals (that were otherwise undetectable) and imagining where that animal went, based on the tracks that they left. We often call this “vision”, the capacity to imagine events that have not happened, or that we did not witness. It is this same capacity that many of us play with when we listen to music on our audio systems.
It’s always good to remind yourself that this hobby of high fidelity audio is nothing more than our playing with expensive toys that produce the illusion of three-dimensional sound. This illusion is one that we as humans are particularly well equipped to perceive.
Our brains are active participants in creating the illusion. Why is it that people would rather speculate over insignificant little details of audio, such as the purity of the copper in your speaker cables, and ignore the entire aspect of human perception as a part of this illusion? Attitudes, beliefs, and expectations (as woodman likes to remind us) have a lot more to do with this illusion than the characteristics of the audio hardware that you use. It is just a lot easier to measure those characteristics than it is to examine human perception.
I say this as an admonition to both the hardheaded engineers who say, “If you can’t measure it, it isn’t real” and to the naďve audiophiles who say “I heard it so it must be real”. Stop, you’re both wrong. It’s a real illusion. It couldn’t exist without human perception.
Happy holidays to all of you. I hope that you hear some new and wonderful illusions on your sound systems.
This illusion of three-dimensional presence from a recording is a different experience from enjoying content whether it is music or a movie. We have binaural hearing and binocular vision, and our brains are very quick at taking the raw visual and aural data and processing it into a three-dimensional picture. Many other animals may have sharper vision, or more sensitive ears, but only a few other animals may be as good as we are at the mental recreation process. Primates, most predators like dogs, cats and bears, and most birds, especially the predatory birds have binocular vision and binaural hearing, and I assume they have the mental ability to process that input. It would be interesting to know what whales and dolphins do with their ability to generate and hear sounds over very long distances under water. I dobut if any of these animals are capable of enjoying music like we do.
Most of us who like this audio illusion want to know, how do I get more of it? Is it caused by improved electronic and audio equipment? Sure, but that is only part of it. Our brains also create it. For reasons none of us understand, the human brain, along with the eyes and ears, does a remarkable job of creating a map of the world we live in. Sometimes this ability has led to some truly remarkable discoveries, and perhaps as often it has led to some truly bizarre misconceptions. History is full of examples, such as the widespread belief in 15th century Europe that the world must be flat. Right or wrong, our brains are constantly at work processing what we take in.
Our brains are extremely good at taking limited information, usually collected by our eyes and ears, and working it up into a reconstructed picture (image, vision, etc.) of what we think is actually out there. All of us do this to varying degrees; it is human nature to do it. Maybe it is what makes humans such good explorers, scientists, and philosophers. Think of the prehistoric human hunters and gatherers. There are other animals that are much better hunters, they have better vision, hearing, and sense of smell, and may be stronger and faster, but I believe only humans are capable of tracking their prey. Humans learned to look at footprints left by animals (that were otherwise undetectable) and imagining where that animal went, based on the tracks that they left. We often call this “vision”, the capacity to imagine events that have not happened, or that we did not witness. It is this same capacity that many of us play with when we listen to music on our audio systems.
It’s always good to remind yourself that this hobby of high fidelity audio is nothing more than our playing with expensive toys that produce the illusion of three-dimensional sound. This illusion is one that we as humans are particularly well equipped to perceive.
Our brains are active participants in creating the illusion. Why is it that people would rather speculate over insignificant little details of audio, such as the purity of the copper in your speaker cables, and ignore the entire aspect of human perception as a part of this illusion? Attitudes, beliefs, and expectations (as woodman likes to remind us) have a lot more to do with this illusion than the characteristics of the audio hardware that you use. It is just a lot easier to measure those characteristics than it is to examine human perception.
I say this as an admonition to both the hardheaded engineers who say, “If you can’t measure it, it isn’t real” and to the naďve audiophiles who say “I heard it so it must be real”. Stop, you’re both wrong. It’s a real illusion. It couldn’t exist without human perception.
Happy holidays to all of you. I hope that you hear some new and wonderful illusions on your sound systems.