Many misconceptions and mysteries surround the perception and reproduction of musical sounds. Specifications such as frequency response and certain common distortions provide an inadequate indication of the sound quality, whereas accuracy in the time domain is known to significantly influence audio transparency. While the upper frequency cutoff of human hearing is around 18 kHz (or even lower in older individuals) a much higher bandwidth and temporal resolution can influence the perception of sound. Non-linearities and temporal complexities in the auditory system negate the simple f ~ 1/t reciprocal relationship between frequency and time. In our group's research -- which lies at the intersection of psychophysics, human hearing, and high-end audio -- we measure the limits of human hearing and relate them to the neurophysiology of the auditory system. These experiments also help to define the criteria for perfect fidelity in a sound-reproduction system. Our recent behavioral studies on human subjects proved that humans can discern timing alterations on a 5 microsecond time scale, indicating that that digital sampling rates used in common consumer audio (such as CD) are insufficient for fully preserving transparency.
Temporal resolution of hearing probed by bandwidth restriction, M. N. Kunchur, Acta Acustica united with Acustica 94, 594–603 (2008). pdf file
Probing the temporal resolution and bandwidth of human hearing , M. N. Kunchur, Proc. of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA) 2, 050006 (2008). pdf file
Audibility of temporal smearing and time misalignment of acoustic signals, M. N. Kunchur, Technical Acoustics, 17 (2007). pdf file
FAQs (this document answers FAQs, and provides some tutorial information for the above papers), M. N. Kunchur, web article (last updated July 15, 2009). pdf file
Article in popular HiFi magazine summarizing principal results and implications of above papers , by George Foster, HIFICRITIC Vol3/No2 pg.7 (2009). pdf file
Conference presentations and abstracts:
Temporal Resolution and the High-Frequency Limit of Hearing,
at the 31st Annual Midwinter Research Meeting of the Association for Research in
Otolaryngology (ARO), February 16-21, 2008, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
(M. N. Kunchur, Bulletin and Abstract Book of the 31st Annual Midwinter Research
Meeting of the ARO, edited by Peter A. Santi, vol. 31, pg. 318, February 2008.)
Probing the temporal resolution and bandwidth of human
hearing in "Session 2aPP: Psychological and Physiological Acoustics:
Potpourri" at the 154th annual ASA meeting in New Orleans, November 28, 2007.
(2aPP1: M. N. Kunchur, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 122, No. 5, Pt. 2, pg. 2967
November 2007.)
An upper bound on the temporal resolution of human hearing in “Session 2aPP: Psychological and Physiological Acoustics – Spatial
Hearing and Temporal Processing” at the Fourth Joint Meeting: ASA (Acoustical Society of America) and ASJ
(Acoustical Society of Japan) in Honolulu, HI, on November 29, 2006.
(2aPP29: M. N. Kunchur, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 120, No. 5, Pt. 2, Pg.
3085, November 2006.)
The perception and high-fidelity reproduction of music, special one-hour invited tutorial talk given in “Session T1: Acoustics and the Perception and Reproduction of Music” at the Annual March Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS), Los Angeles, CA, March 20, 2005. (M. N. K. was also the organizer and chair of this symposium.)
Music perception and reproduction, presented at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society (SESAPS), Wilmington, NC, October 2003.
Download recent colloquium abstract.
High-fidelity audio,
psychoacoustics and how our hearing works, Music Composition Seminar given at
USC School of Music, on January 30, 2009.
High-fidelity audio and
the resolution of time in human hearing, colloquium at Indira Gandhi
Center for Atomic Research, on December 23, 2008.
Temporal resolution and
bandwidth of hearing, "Hearing and Donuts Seminar" given at University of
Wisconsin at Madison, on April 11, 2008.
High-fidelity audio and the resolution of time in human hearing, seminar
given at Argonne National Laboratory, on April 15, 2008.
High-fidelity audio and the resolution
of time in human hearing, colloquium
given at Northern Illinois University, on April 18, 2008.
Temporal resolution and
bandwidth of hearing, presentation to the Bose Corporation in the USC
Nanocenter, Jan. 23, 2008.
High-fidelity audio and the resolution of time in human hearing, colloquium given at University of Pune, Department of Physics, on January 5, 2007.
High-fidelity audio and the resolution of time in human hearing, colloquium given at University of South Carolina, Department of Physics and Astronomy, on February 15, 2007.
High-fidelity audio and the resolution of time in human hearing, colloquium given at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, on August 21, 2007.
High-fidelity audio and the resolution of time in human hearing, colloquium given at Instituto de Fisica, Universidad San Louis Potosi, San Louis Potosi, Mexico, on August 29, 2007.
High-fidelity audio and
the resolution of time in human hearing, colloquium
given at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre on December 18, 2006.
High-fidelity audio and the resolution
of time in human hearing, institute-wide ASET
(Advances in Science, Engineering, and Technology) colloquium given at Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) on December 22, 2006.
The perception and high-fidelity
reproduction of music, seminar given at Department of Biomedical
Engineering, University of California, Irvine, March 22, 2005.
Hi-fidelity music reproduction and the human audibility of ultrasonic
frequencies, colloquium given at University of South Carolina,
September 22, 2005.
Guest lecturer at the Columbia Student Chapter of the Audio Engineering Society (AES).
The perception and reproduction of music, Iowa State University, Ames, December 6, 2004.
The perception and reproduction of music, University of Georgia, Athens, October 14, 2004.
Music perception and reproduction, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, August 11, 2004.
Music perception and reproduction, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, August 9, 2004.
The perception and electronic reproduction of music, University of Pune, Pune, August 6, 2004.
Music perception and reproduction — time is not always one over frequency, Rutgers University, Physics colloquium, October 29, 2003
The Science of Hearing, Music Preception and Music Reproduction, University of South Carolina, Department of Physics and Astronomy, March 20, 2003.
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