From: kk@mcnc.org (Krzysztof A. Kozminski)
Subject: Re: Hearing vs. Listening
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Organization: MCNC Center for Microelectronics, RTP, NC
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 15:16:25 GMT
	for info-high-audio@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

Judging by the followups, I see that my suggestion to 'take your
wife/girlfriend to audition audio gear' should've been more detailed.
The idea is to have somewhat more communication among the listeners
than just asking her 'which one sounds better?'

|From: bbaker@novell.com (Brad Baker)
|Hearing is not just what your ear can detect, but your brain.
|In listening to music, one person who has a trained, or learned, ear
|such as an audiophile or musician, can hear, or discern, or extract
|more information, from a piece of music, than can a layman or laywoman
|for that matter.  Have you ever pointed out some background music, fan
|noise, or something else, to someone who could verify the sound, but
|wouldn't have noticed the sound if you hadn't pointed it out?

Sure.  See also (2) below for elaboration ...

|From: dg@mtqua.att.com (Duane Galensky)
|what would be the purpose of taking along someone with better hearing
|to audition the equipment that you intend to buy...

1) In the original context, the reason is that the wife will have to
   live with the chosen equipment and it better not drive her crazy with
   something the husband can't hear.  Trivial example: I had to settle
   for a TV with less than top picture quality but with the quietest
   flyback transformer (it did not bother me much at all, but my wife
   vetoed 95% of TVs I found OK ...)

2) Reality check: "can she hear the same nuances that seem apparent to me?"
   Ask her! True, this opens up a can of placebo worms, so I'd try not to
   suggest the answer, i.e. something like: "listen to the upper range
   of strings in this particular piece and tell me which one exhibits
   this particular effect about this particular aspect of sound."  While
   confirmation is non-conclusive (I might have suggested the desired
   answer), the negation may be a valuable piece of information (i.e.
   that I am deluding myself).  The important thing is to explain the
   effect & perhaps demonstrate it under conditions when it is apparent.

Actually, 3rd reason comes to mind, again in the original context: the
wife can catch the hi-fi bug, and then the things turn really neat ...

|From: KLUDGE@AGCB1.LARC.NASA.GOV
|It's not worthwhile to bring someone with you who can hear better than you
|can.  But, it's crucial to bring someone with you who can listen better.

So if you bring someone who can hear better, *teach* her to listen better.
Just as you wrote later:

|when I hear them, I point them out, and the others generally say "Wow!  I
|can hear that, but I wasn't listening for it" or something more literate to
|that effect.

Just beware of the power of suggestion ... if you point this out by saying
"this $$$$$ Mark Levinson sure has earth-shaking kick drum comapred to
that meager Audio Alchemy" you effectively bias the other person.  On the
other hand, asking "do you think that one of these boxes reproduces the
drum with more punch" is less suggestive. DISCLAIMER: neither is scientific
or proves anything, just that one is grossly worse than the other.

After the better hearing person also knows how to listen, one might be
able to achieve the ideal conditions of a pentuple blind testing (-:

- the subject does not know the identity of the source
- the tester is not in visual/voice contact with the subject during test
- the subject does not know the price of any equipment involved in the test
- the subject does not know she's being tested
- the tester does not know he's doing any testing.

Point in case: last Saturday, after lugging home $$$$$ worth of CD players,
transports, and D/As, I'm connecting the stuff, matching levels, and having
a ball, when my wife comes downstairs and says: "the previous one sounded
more real", and gives reasons why ... sure enough, she picked Theta Pro
over Basic at that time.

|And, I appreciate that there are a lot of others whose listening
|skills are far better than mine (because they often lead me into saying things
|like that myself).

Again beware of the power of suggestion ... a friendly hi-end store owner
related that at a recent CES he witnessed a bunch of golden ears including
some well-known hi-end rag editors spent a vast quantity of time raving
about Wadia D/A just to find out the thing was not even powered up (and not
in the signal path, either - they listened to a much cheaper D/A).

KK
-- 
"Legalize freedom.  Vote libertarian"

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