[Noisebridge-discuss] why a sine wave?

Joel Jaeggli joelja at bogus.com
Wed Jan 13 22:48:18 UTC 2010



Michael Shiloh wrote:
> So we have a pretty good understanding of the physics, but I realize now 
> that I didn't pose my original question well.
> 
> Why do we prefer a single tone to one that contains harmonics? What is 
> it about a pure tone that sounds better to us?

There is fairly strong argument that what you're describing isn't
universal and is in fact a cultural or linguistic preference, although
there's probably a diagnosable autism spectrum disorder or two in there
as well, your milage may vary.

> M
> 
> Gian Pablo Villamil wrote:
>> Probably due to the lack of harmonics.
>>
>> It's relatively simple to build a simple oscillator and record its
>> output with a computer, and then look at it through a spectrum
>> analyzer.
>>
>> Then try sticking capacitors on the output side, as a kind of rough
>> and ready filter, and see what that does the perceived "purity" of the
>> sound.
>>
>> I did this a while ago, I documented some (but not all) of the results here:
>>
>> http://itp.nyu.edu/~gpv206/2007/11/replacing_pots_and_caps_for_be.html
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 10:59 AM, Michael Shiloh
>> <michaelshiloh1010 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Why do we perceive a sine audio wave as a "pure" tone? Does it have to
>>> do with the mechanical vibrations in our ear? Does any non-sine wave
>>> introduce harmonics, vibrations other than the fundamental, which our
>>> brain perceives as non-pure?
>>>
>>> Regardless of mechanics, what is the perceptive reason a sine wave
>>> sounds pure?
>>>
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