[Harp-L] Comb testing

[Maka McMahon <makamcmahon@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ahh, some more opnion on combs - just what we need.

Testing with HITL (human in the loop) is bound to reduce the objectivity of the testing. Humans aren't all that good at doing EXACTLY the same thing over and over, so the test conditions will vary.

And trying to test what you hear is really tricky.  Because you don't hear with your ears, you hear with your brain.  And your brain is full of UNIQUE processing techniques that make you different to everyone else.  A simple example - if a French speaker and I stand next to each other and someone speaks to us in French, the signal reaching our ears will be ALMOST exactly the same.  But I don't speak French, so the PERCEPTION of what was heard will be vastly different.  Trying to find two (or more) people that hear 'harp' exactly the same is an impossible task - because you'll never know if they hear the same thing.

Now the empirical statement:  Comb material DOES change the sound of the the harp.  But so does the relatively humidity, a 0.000000001 mph change in the air speed over the reed, and for all I know, the size of the ozone layer hole over Antarctica.

Can you objectively measure the differences AND attribute them to the correct source?  You might be able to find some quantifiable differences if you use incredibly accurate test devices and environments, but connecting any differences found to what people hear will always finish up having a large subjective component.  And result in many entries on Harp-L!

Love this thread!

Cheers
Maka
(who spent more than a decade earning his money trying to test some interesting (but non-harp) stuff in environments of limited control.  Flight Test Squadron, Aircraft Research and Development Unit)


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