It's well known that our products are designed both by measurement and by ear.
How close is the designer's hearing to that of the end user? For if the two don't match then how can we know if we're in synch?
This is a great question because it focuses on the common misconception that we hear with our ears. In fact, we hear with our ears and our brains.
It is true our ears as microphones are all very different, but it's our ear/brain mechanism that sorts everything out. I can tell the difference between a violin and a cello because of my learned experience and so too can you. And the better our experience the more accurate our results.
We cannot train a measurement device to be a better measurer, but we can train ourselves to be better listeners.
So if a designer's goal is to build a product that more closely reproduces the sound of real instruments in acoustic space, it is the ear/brain tool we rely upon to help us achieve our goal.
With few exceptions, we can all agree upon that which we hear.
