Imagine an “expert listener” ensconced in an ideal listening environment: a medium-size room with a carpeted floor and an array of sound-absorbing acoustical foam. He is a recording engineer, a piano tuner or an audiophile, and has been trained to test a new coder-decoder, or “codec,” for transmitting digital audio. His task is to determine whether the program’s compression of sound produces “artifacts,” perceptible losses or disturbances. His reactions may help shape the listening experiences of millions of people for years to come. He is a white, middle-class male around the age of 40; his favorite band is King Crimson. He switches between a reference audio and the coded audio and wonders: Am I testing the technology or is the technology testing me?”
(Via Art in America – Most Recent.)