Audio Engineering Explained

CHAPTER 2

Introduction to Hearing

 

Acoustics and Psychoacoustics by David Howard and Jamie Angus

 

Psychoacoustics is the study of how humans perceive sound. To begin our exploration of psychoacoustics it is first necessary to become familiar with the basic anatomy of the human hearing system to facilitate understanding of:

• the effect the normal hearing system has on sounds entering the ear,
• the origin of fundamental psychoacoustic findings relevant to the perception of music,
• how listening to very loud sounds can cause hearing damage, and
• some of the listening problems faced by the hearing impaired.

This chapter introduces the main anatomical structures of the human hearing system which form the path along which incoming music signals travel ...