A golden ear is a term used in
professional audio
Professional audio, abbreviated as pro audio, refers to both an activity and a category of high quality, studio-grade audio equipment. Typically it encompasses sound recording, sound reinforcement system setup and audio mixing, and studio mus ...
circles to refer to a person who is thought to possess special talents in
hearing
Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psycholog ...
. People described as having golden ears are said to be able to discern subtle differences in audio reproduction that most inexperienced and untrained listeners cannot.
Another meaning of the term is used by
audiologist
Audiology (from Latin , "to hear"; and from Greek , ''-logia'') is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By employing various ...
s to describe aging test subjects who do not demonstrate the expected age-related loss in hearing acuity.
Music perception
A person said to have golden ears is one who can perceive more subtle changes in sound than others, either by training or by birth. The skill is rare.
An ongoing blind loudspeaker listening program developed by Floyd E. Toole of Harman International has demonstrated that listeners can be trained to reliably discern relatively small frequency response differences among loudspeakers, whereas untrained listeners cannot. He showed that inexperienced listeners cannot reliably identify even large frequency response deviations.
Toole's research also indicates that when participants can see what they are hearing, their preferences often change profoundly. If the listener and test administrator don't know which sound source is the favored-to-win candidate, the differences often disappear (or the favorite loses).
[Blind Testing in the Audio Realm, by Dave Moulton](_blank)
/ref>
Skilled listeners who claim to be able to hear differences among various pieces of audio gear assert that the ability to do so is no different from discerning picture quality differences among cameras, or discerning image quality differences among video display devices. However others argue that there are fundamental differences in the way audio and visual reproductions such as a photograph are compared, photographs can be compared side by side and simultaneously whereas audio must be compared sequentially.[The Audio Critic, issue 26, page 3, letters to the editor, R. A. Greiner "Photographic results are much more definitive and easier to compare than are audio results. (...) In the first case a time-sequential comparison is made, and in the second the comparison can be and usually is simultaneous."](_blank)
/ref>
The minimum audible change in sound pressure level is generally thought to be around 1 dB, but less than 0.1 dB has been reported in blind listening tests.[Ljudtekniska Sällskapet](_blank)
/ref> When testing, the level difference between stimuli is therefore recommended to be calibrated to ±0.05 dB.
In the context of high-end audio
High-end audio is a class of consumer home audio equipment marketed to audiophiles on the basis of high price or quality, and esoteric or novel sound reproduction technologies. The term can refer simply to the price, to the build quality of the ...
, the term "golden ears" is frequently used in a sarcastic manner to refer to people who subscribe to pseudoscientific, magical or paranormal principles around audio equipment.
Age and hearing
The term golden ears has also been used by audiologists to describe mature adult test subjects who show a hearing acuity similar to that of youthful subjects. In this group, the normal, expected age-related decline in hearing acuity is not observed.
See also
* The Man with the Golden Ear Award
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Ear
Hearing