What is heard?

Books are such tricky things when read.

The reading arouses thinking.

I just read about the spooky Moodus noises heard in Connecticut, and acousmatic noises, defined as sounds heard without seeing what causes it.

Accounts focus on speculation concerning the source of the sound through the causal ascriptions that other listeners have made. Because the source of the noises remains obscure, the desire to uncover it generates much of the interest in the sounds themselves. Second, many accounts focus on the various effects the noises have wrought on auditors. This is the same as much of the babble in hi-fi forums and webpage comments.

That set me on wondering about sounds imagined, when there is no cause, called hallucinatory auditory mental imagery.

It seems that some research has linked the imagination of music, noise, or silence, termed audiation, which is distinct from musical memory, with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other disorders, including hearing loss. The ability to intentionally manipulate the ‘inner ear’ is considered an asset for musicians who can practice less and learn and play music better in a shorter time period with less effort.

That’s not the same phenomenon as someone being convinced, or claiming, that they can hear a change or difference between the output of two audio transduction or connection devices, especially when such is promised in the selection process by someoe with a vested interest in the outcome of a decision or choice. Belief without evidence is simply faith

People generally hear what they listen for. Claimed hearing can be likened to those who invest in visiting places they believe are haunted by spirits and ghosts, and report that they have indeed “sensed a presence”. There is no objective evidence. The objec is thought to have been seen but has no material existence. Eidolism is the belief in ghosts or apparitions. What, I wonder, should we call audiophiles who when sitting in front of mega-expensive audio devices hear effects that are not confirmed by measurement?

What is generated internally by those with unsubstatiated claims of hearing a certain sound characteristic is not auditory but instead a confirmatory belief: “I’ll hear it when I believe it”. It’s a motivated form of hallucination (paracusia) formed by faith, suggestion and other influences. We hear what we expect to hear or want to believe.

Another aspect of this is that if audiophile devices somehow add depth and width and other character to the signal that has effect on the listeners, then they are other than high-fidelity which is accurate and faithful to the original. For a long time, I understood audiophile as the so-called high-end of hi-fi. Perhaps, after all, the intents differ.