[linux-audio-user] Re: Fwd: [Jamin] Re: soft clip: Achieving Gain, inconsequential overloads

[davidrclark at earthlink.net]

Tim,

> I don't think it's psycho-acoustics, distortion creates more harmonics, 
> that's physics CMIIW.

"CMIIW" --- OK:

While it is well-known that distortion creates more frequency components,
in a classic experiment done in 1924 by Wegel and Lane [1], it was shown 
that  due to the nonlinear processing done by the inner ear, additional 
tones could be heard provided that the intensity was loud enough.

That there are psychophysical effects which result in "louder produces more 
harmonics" has long been established.  If there are also other nonlinear
effects beyond this (nonlinear processing by the brain), then there may
also be psychoacoustic effects that result in "louder produces more 
harmonics."  This is very likely, not nonexistent.

--------------------

[1] R. Wegel and C. Lane.  The auditory masking of one pure tone by another
and its probable relation to the dynamics of the inner ear.  In Physics
Review, volume 23, pages 266-285.  Cited in Curtis Roads, The Computer 
Music Tutorial, MIT, 1996.