As the year continues, many of these posts will be philosophical in nature. Some will be in contradiction to previous postings. These are not intended as truths or assertions, they’re merely thoughts…ideas. Think of this as stream of consciousness over a wide span… This week's post is a short rhetorical question, and I'm piggy-backing off of last week's connection between … [Read more...]
Sunday Sound Thought 3 – Time
As the year continues, many of these posts will be philosophical in nature. Some will be in contradiction to previous postings. These are not intended as truths or assertions, they're merely thoughts...ideas. Think of this as stream of consciousness over a wide span... Sound is a representation of time. Actually, that doesn't sit right. Sound IS time. If you think … [Read more...]
Sunday Sound Thought 1 – Hearing Changes
Happy New Year! You may have noticed that I've been far less active on the site lately [...or maybe you haven't and I'm just a narcissist]. I've taken a step back from the site's more regular content, but I wanted to challenge myself to something. I'm going to try to post a musing on sound once a week for the next year. I'll probably fail, but I want to keep the juices flowing. … [Read more...]
“Hearing Lips and Seeing Voices” – The McGurk Effect
Want to see something that’ll mess with your head? [youtube]http://youtu.be/73LE1vKGfy4[/youtube] Now, you may not have noticed anything all that strange watching the video, but mute the sound and watch it again. After that, close your eyes and listen to just the audio. Notice anything strange now? You’ve just witnessed one of the more interesting perceptual illusions, … [Read more...]
Silence is the Sound of Listening
"One can look at seeing but one can't hear hearing" - Marcel Duchamp As you may know, silence is the topic chosen for this month here at Designing Sound. One may think silence is not existent if we value it as an absolute sonic absence, but here I'm going to examine its role and possibility towards the act of listening to sound, silencing, not as that state of complete sonic … [Read more...]
Does Bit or Sample Rate Reduction Affect Loudness Measurements?
A few nights ago, I was struck by an idea that hadn't occurred to me previously. I was prepping for a presentation on loudness metering at a game development studio that would take place the following day. It was a question... Would bit rate or sample rate reduction affect the loudness measurement of sounds metered using ITU-R BS.1770? Both are practices common to game … [Read more...]
David Farmer Special: Perception of Sound
I'd like to talk a little on the perception of sound. We've mentioned how intangible it is, and therefore our perception of it is wide open to our own interpretation. I like this definition of Perception, as found on Wikipedia: "The processes of perception routinely alter what humans see. When people view something with a preconceived concept about it, they tend to take those … [Read more...]