Blind tests collapse personal preference into shared judgments

Evidence

Some audio journalists are hostile to the very notion that audio is amenable to scientific investigation—asserting that only subjective opinion, preferably theirs, matters. There is nothing wrong with subjective opinions. As will be seen, it is these that have allowed for deliberate and productive research into what matters in sound reproduction. However, the opinions must be collected under circumstances in which the ever-observant human brain is deprived of information that could bias the opinion about the sound. The tests must be blind—the listeners must not know prices, brands, sizes and so forth. Ideally they should be double-blind, so the experimenter cannot bias the results. There should also be comparison sounds from competing products readily available, because humans are notoriously forgetful when it comes to recalling the details of sound quality. When this is done the subjective data begins to resemble technical measurements, in that they become impressively repeatable and, more importantly, generalizable to a large population. — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 87 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

It is common to think that persons from different countries or cultures might prefer certain spectral balances. It is also common to think that people of different ages, having grown up with different music might have preferences that are not shared by young people. Harman is a large international company, with audio business in all product categories—consumer, professional and automotive—so it is important to know if such biases exist, and if they do, to be able to design products that appeal to specific clienteles. Over the years several investigations have shown that, if such biases exist at all, they are not revealed in blind testing. — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 285 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Blind listening tests make subjective sound judgments objective and repeatable — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 87; Subjective tests have no right answers because each listener’s perception is unique; Cultural and age preferences for sound do not appear in blind testing — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 285 (+3 more)

Related

• Cultural and age preferences for sound do not appear in blind testing (similarity 0.91)
• Subjective tests have no right answers because each listener’s perception is unique (similarity 0.89)
• Blind listening tests make subjective sound judgments objective and repeatable (similarity 0.88)
• Randomizing identifiers, positions, and music prevents experimenter bias in listening tests (similarity 0.87)
• Pilot tests and controlled constants eliminate confounding in listening experiments (similarity 0.85)
• Highly trained listeners can repeat subjective judgments with remarkable consistency (similarity 0.85)
• Subjective audio opinions can behave like facts when gathered under controlled conditions (similarity 0.85)
• Headphone blind tests cannot use automated shuffling, so tactile cues leak into results. (similarity 0.84)
• Psychoacoustic knowledge rests entirely on subjective listening tests, not direct measurement (similarity 0.83)
• Blind listener tests reliably favor the most neutral loudspeakers (similarity 0.83)
• Blind listeners largely agreed on loudspeaker preferences, matching measurement quality (similarity 0.82)
• Speaker cables and devices show near-zero audible differences in blind tests (similarity 0.82)
• Audible resonances drove low sound-quality ratings in early blind tests (similarity 0.82)
• High-end audio forfeited credibility by refusing blind testing (similarity 0.81)
• Even expert engineers are biased by non-auditory factors in loudspeaker evaluation (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Blind listening tests make subjective sound judgments objective and repeatable #corroborates (0.92) — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 87
• Cultural and age preferences for sound do not appear in blind testing #expands (0.90) — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 285
• Subjective tests have no right answers because each listener’s perception is unique #contradicts (0.85)
• Randomizing identifiers, positions, and music prevents experimenter bias in listening tests #expands (0.85)
• Some preferences are inherently unknowable even when their owner is desperate to reveal them #contradicts (0.78) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 278
• Social consensus precedes individual competence in judgment #expands (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 268