Sighted listening evaluations are biased regardless of listener expertise

Evidence

There are two answers. One is based on hard data; see Figure 17.2 for a few examples. And then there is the answer based on opinions. The two can be remarkably, and depressingly, different. A persistent problem throughout the audio industry and consumer world is a lack of discipline in conducting subjective evaluations. Sighted evaluations are susceptible to bias, regardless of who the listener is, consumer or professional, inexperienced or experienced (see Section 10.1). — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1949

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to earlier chapters on controlled listening tests (Section 10.1) and the well-documented bias effect in perceptual evaluation.