A mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.
16
votes
2answers
900 views
+200
Does a -9 dB room cause hallucinations?
Does being in an anechoic chamber cause hallucinations? According to several blogs (that likely copy each other), it does. The Orfield Laboratory in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States is ...
7
votes
1answer
503 views
Can birds scream as loud as a jet engine?
I'm moving into an apartment with my cockatoo, and in thinking about sound level I realized I've never actually seen a source for the claim I've heard quite often and passively believed myself:
...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
Is 432Hz sound frequency more “natural” or beneficial to human body than 440Hz?
I have been reading about tuning musical instruments to A=432 frequency instead of recently (meaning in the last century) arbitrarily defined standard of tuning to A=440Hz.
Supposedly the 432Hz ...
8
votes
0answers
207 views
Are blind listening tests flawed?
Blind listening tests are strongly critiqued by Robert Harley in this editorial, published in The Absolute Sound. Harley seems to think the tests prove nothing.
Every few years, the results of ...
8
votes
0answers
344 views
What is the “strange sound” in Costa Rica?
Apparently a few days ago people in Costa Rica heard weird sounds coming from everywhere. People say it's the Rapture coming again...
Some of them sound like the tripods from War of the Worlds...
...
25
votes
3answers
4k views
Is the sound from records (vinyl) superior to digital formats (CDs, music files, etc.)?
Quasi-related
Are there any perceptible differences between the sound quality of 192 versus 320 kbps MP3 files?
Do expensive, “premium” speaker cables actually make a difference?
I've heard this ...
1
vote
0answers
353 views
Can blocking the aperture of a mobile phone speaker cause damage?
A friend was sitting near another's ringing mobile phone, stoically ignoring the noise. When I advised him to cover the dynamic with a finger, he replied that it may break it.
Is it really so? I ...
3
votes
1answer
454 views
Does unplugging your stereo while playing can damage it? [closed]
When you unplug your stereo from the source while playing music, it usually makes a scratchy sound.
I haven't seen any stereo broken from an unplug.
I did it a couple of times on my stereo and it ...
2
votes
0answers
191 views
How powerful are air cannons?
I wondered how powerful air blasters are.
Is it possible for one to be so powerful that the shock wave passes through walls, floors and ceilings? Could it make bumps on metallic surfaces or at least ...
26
votes
2answers
2k views
Do car alarms provide a significant reduction in automobile theft?
Noise
That movie got me thinking, because it makes a number of claims about car alarms that jive with my personal feelings about them. They're noisy, obnoxious, tend to go off at night, and are ...
61
votes
3answers
6k views
Are there any perceptible differences between the sound quality of 192 versus 320 kbps MP3 files?
I have friends that are very picky when it comes to MP3 bitrate, and will always look for the 320 kbps version of a file. However, I have never noticed any differences, they sound the same to me. I ...
67
votes
2answers
11k views
Do expensive, “premium” speaker cables actually make a difference?
I was tempted to go drop $8500 on these awesome speaker cables so I could be like Whiplash (see customer pictures), but I'm curious, if I use them for my audio system, will they actually make a ...
