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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
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,137 posts
 
Microphones used for audio recordings do not measure flat.  They are not designed for testing/measuring, but for recording voices and instruments.

As a practical test to your observation, try listening to generated white noise and tell me if it sounds good.  Or do you prefer pink or even red noise?
clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker OP
1,582 posts
 
Thanks for your reply onhwy61

But I am not sure you are correct.

For example, I looked at the Telefunken U47, perhaps the greatest music recording mike ever designed and I find it is +-3dB from 20Hz to 20kHz.  Pretty flat and flatter than nearly all loudspeakers and phone cartridges, certainly at 20Hz.

As to generated noise by the way, my point was should we listen to music sources flat in electrical terms or flat as our ears send it to our brains.  I believe it must be the latter, as that's what we live with in real life and are adjusted to, for better or worse.
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,349 posts
 
Not that simple...

https://3dinsider.com/microphone-patterns/

DeKay
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,137 posts
 
The U47 is not flat when compared to an Earthworks M30 which measures 3Hz to 30kHz plus/minus 1/3dB.  The U47 was famous with vocalist for its very flattering proximity effect bass boost.

Over the course of history acoustic instruments have been designed to sound good to "flawed" human hearing.  Until the development of electronic instruments, synthesizers, music reflected this historical development.  Despite this, if you want, you can use a smiley face EQ and think it sounds better.

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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