Head and ear variation makes fixture measurements unreliable predictors of listening

Evidence

The optimal design and testing of headphones are complicated by variations in the size and shapes of human heads and ears and how they acoustically couple to the headphones. These variations can produce large differences in bass (leakage effects) and treble that are often not accurately captured by the headphone test fixture. The bottom line is that the measurement of the headphone may not accurately predict what the listener hears. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1870

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the phantom midrange and vertical-polarization debates in headphone research literature.