On 16 Jun 2005 23:53:16 GMT, "Ban" wrote:

Gary Eickmeier wrote:
Mark DeBellis wrote:
I have the following worry about audio listening tests. Suppose the
meaningful variable is a property of an extended passage, not a short
snippet. Then a subject's failure to accurately distinguish or
re-identify may be due to an inability to retain the property in
memory.

I second Garys comment. Some additions:
There are ABX switchboxes available, I made one myself with relays to switch
between two speaker cables simultaneously on both ends. You can switch any
time as much as you like.

Sorry I guess I didn't explain my idea very well. Suppose that in
order to perceive the relevant property a listener has to hear an
uninterrupted stretch of music from the same source. That is, suppose
the relevant property is not a property that belongs to any short
snippet of the signal but is rather a property that belongs only to a
whole, longer passage, say 5 mins. in length or a whole movement.
What I am thinking of here is the SACD vs. CD issue discussed on
another thread. I am wondering if the unit over which perception can
differ meaningfully can be an extended passage not a brief interval;
if so, my switching back and forth between SACD and CD would not be a
relevant test, because I would hear neither SACD nor CD as an unbroken
extended passage. I guess I am asking basically whether the existing
protocols for audio tests make room for the possibility that there can
be auditory perception of properties of longer, extended passages, and
are sufficient to measure such perception.

Perhaps the answer would be that there could not be a difference in
perceptible properties of longer passages without a detectable
difference in frequency response, which could be heard in quick-switch
tests; but is that obvious?

Mark