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Whether to do anything about the limitations of our ears

In the thread 'How do you listen?' appears the following:

"We do not hear all frequencies equally well at all volume levels. Low bass and high treble in particular need to be at a fairly high level to be heard at all."

This asks a big question:

Should we listen as our ears hear, with their inability to apprehend all audio band frequencies at the same intensity? As we are of course compelled to do when listening to live music.

Or when listening to recorded music should we adjust the intensity of particular frequencies we don't hear so well?  This will of course give a different presentation from what we hear live.

Or, to put it a different way, should audio manufacturers design equipment to present the frequency range as flat as a microphone perceives it, or as our ears perceive it?

But a microphone is just another flawed ear, with its own imperfections as regards intensity across the audio frequency range (and others of course).

Or, again: a flat response can be flat only as the means of listening presents it.



128x128clearthinker

Showing 1 response by millercarbon

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I answered your question in the very same post, you just selected one part and apparently didn’t read it all. Measurements, meters, microphones, all those things measure pressure waves. You can look at a printout to see what a meter thinks of pressure waves. If you want to know what a human being thinks of pressure waves (ie, what we hear) then you look at the Fletcher-Munson equal loudness contours.

This is standard info, been around decades. Like I said, it is why they made the Loudness switch. We do not have any choice in the matter. It is just how we are.

What helps is to understand how we are. You can try and do that, or bang your head against the wall trying to make yourself some cyber ears or whatever. Personally, I would prioritize improving what's between the ears. But that’s just me.
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