The human auditory system and audio

This work reviews the human auditory system, elucidating some of the specialized mechanisms and non-linear pathways along the chain of events between physical sound and its perception. Customary relationships between frequency, time, and phase-such as the uncertainty principle-that hold for linear systems, do not apply straightforwardly to the hearing process. Auditory temporal resolution for certain processes can be a hundredth of the period of the signal, and can extend down to the microseconds time scale. The astonishingly large number of variations that correspond to the neural excitation pattern of 30,000 auditory nerve fibers, originating from 3500 inner hair cells, explicates the vast capacity of the auditory system for the resolution of sonic detail. And the ear is sensitive enough to detect a basilar-membrane amplitude at the level of a picometer, or about a hundred times smaller than an atom. This article surveys and provide new insights into some of the impressive capabilities of the human auditory system and explores their relationship to fidelity in reproduced sound.

Automated summary

This article reviews the specialized mechanisms and non-linear pathways in the human auditory system that are involved in the perception of physical sound. It explains that customary relationships between frequency, time, and phase do not straightforwardly apply to the hearing process. The article also highlights the impressive capabilities of the human auditory system, such as its high temporal resolution and sensitivity to minute variations in sound.