Headphone positioning causes large measurement variation below 500 Hz and above 3 kHz.
Evidence
The reproducibility of headphones measurements on both test fixtures and humans has been well documented (Møller et al., 1995b; Kulkarni and Colburn, 2000; McAnally and Martin, 2002; Völk, 2014; Schärer and Lindau, 2009; and Welti, 2015). The positioning and coupling of the headphone on the ears can produce significant variations in the measured response, particularly at frequencies below 500 Hz and above 3 kHz. Closed-back headphone designs typically require the cushions to properly seal around the ear to reproduce good bass, which can be a challenge for many test fixtures and humans depending on the size and shape of their heads/ears and how well the cushions fit and seal around the ear. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1717
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
Related
- Headphone measurement variability is greatest below 500 Hz and above 3 kHz (similarity 0.94)
- Head and ear variation makes fixture measurements unreliable predictors of listening (similarity 0.89)
- Headphone reproducibility varies strongly with frequency, worse at bass and treble extremes (similarity 0.89)
- Test fixture fidelity to human measurements remains an open question (similarity 0.87)
- Headphone measurements vary most between individuals at high frequencies. (similarity 0.87)
- Earphone frequency response must be measured on real ears, not couplers (similarity 0.87)
- Headphone test-fixture measurements often fail to predict what individual listeners hear (similarity 0.85)
- Headphone frequency response varies across listeners by up to 9 dB. (similarity 0.84)
- Ear coupling and head size make headphone sound-quality opinions vary widely (similarity 0.84)
- Impulse response measurements can misrepresent what listeners actually hear (similarity 0.84)
- Listeners are forgiving of headphone resonances but sensitive to bass-level air leaks. (similarity 0.83)
- Measurement accuracy on fixtures directly predicts agreement with human listeners (similarity 0.83)
- Ear-level microphone measurements capture artifacts inaudible to human listeners (similarity 0.83)
- Ear-drum reference point measurements are clinically risky and unreliable at high frequencies (similarity 0.83)
- In-ear drum reference point measurements are rarely performed due to invasiveness and unreliability. (similarity 0.83)
Broader Connections
- Headphone reproducibility varies strongly with frequency, worse at bass and treble extremes
#corroborates(0.85) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1747 - Ear-drum reference point measurements are clinically risky and unreliable at high frequencies
#corroborates(0.70) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1736