Auditory roughness is a psychoacoustic phenomenon that is often attributed to rapid amplitude modulation or multiple sinusoidal components in a sound that fall within the same critical band of the human ear. It is a physically experienced discomfort that may nevertheless be received differently depending on individual and context.

"The Hearing Test" imagines a world where auditory experiences are routinely adjusted using corrective technology, similar to glasses that adjust the experience of sight. Over the course of the piece, roughness is adjusted using mathematical estimations and adjustments to frequency, amplitude and spatial positioning of sinusoidal components. The listener is encouraged to decide the effectiveness of techniques as the piece grapples with the daunting task of attempting to understand the auditory experience through listening tests. And above all else, the listener is encouraged to pay attention to the pressure on their ears - and enjoy the release whenever possible.

The Hearing Test

Examples from the fifth chapter of my dissertation

ch5_sax_mix_vanilla

17-ch5_sax_mix_processed

Examples from the second chapter of my dissertation

06-ch2_stretch_adaptive

10-ch3_major_chord_tremolo

Audio examples from chapter 6 of my dissertation. These appended examples explore the use of source separation to show the effectiveness of vibrato matching at masking the presence of multiple sound sources in a mix.

The Hearing Test

Jeremy Hyrkas

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