Eric Carroll;180082 Wrote:
> Is perhaps one of the confusing things in this discussion the difference
> between a single person, single trial negative result (i.e. null) vs a
> single person multiple trial negative result/positive results vs
> multiple person multiple trials?
>
Multiple trials add confidence to whatever result is obtained. Either
the result will be consistent with random guessing or with perceiving a
difference, and our confidence in the conclusion will be increased as
the number of trials increases.
If we are interested in concluding something about audibility for
humans in general, rather than for an individual, the more people
involved in the test the better. Here things can get a bit murky - if
there is a difference which is close to the threshhold of audibility,
it's possible there is a small fraction of the population ("golden
ears", or "Keen Eared Individuals" in Stereophile's terminology) who
can hear it while most can't. That could get lost in the noise of a
large listening test if the number of such people is small enough.
However that can be dealt with - for example the most successful
individuals from the large test could be tested individually or as a
group to see if their performance was chance or not.
I agree about people believing they hear something - I'm sure no one is
lying! I've tried to be careful with terminology about that, but I
think our language actually lacks a good term to distinguish these
things. For example do you hear ringing in your ears, or imagine it,
or perceive it, or what? Terminology aside, as you say the point is to
remove as many confounding factors as possible when attempting to
determine if a given component makes an audible difference, and human
psychology is a biggie.
Snarly, I totally agree with your post - it's really not meant to be
demeaning, and it applies to everyone. It's just about getting at the
facts.
--
opaqueice
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