Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter • Hacker News Board

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#491

Post by gwern » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 3:23 PM UTC

Strilanc wrote: post #460

gwern wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Sci-Hub works fine here. Since you apparently don't deign to use it, I've mirrored it here: https://www.gwern.net/docs/design/2018-newman.pdf

Oh no I love sci-hub but I second-guess linking it. Thanks for the mirror! So, reading the paper proper, I was wrong about it being the authors' talks. They picked existing engineering talks and interviews. It'd be nice to be able to actually see the clips to get a sense of how much they changed the quality. They say they put the clips on youtube for the test but don't take the opportunity to link the clips. In the S…

Yeah, that was my overall take: reasonably convincing, neither a dumpster fire nor a slamdunk.

These days I don't believe these sorts of psychology effects until I see a Registered Report, but this also isn't the hot steaming garbage you'd expect from the OP summary. It's more or less what you'd expect from a small but not super-small sample investigating a moderate real effect across the board which does seem pretty plausible a priori.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#492

Post by stcredzero » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 3:30 PM UTC

kthejoker2 wrote: post #445

stcredzero wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It baffles me that some people don't seem to care about their audio quality on calls. Here's the thing about perception: A lot of it happens without your conscious knowledge. One of the things about using Audacity as one's cheap studio software, is that you have to adjust for recording latency for multitrack. It's really easy to see how a part of perception is unconscious with the delay. Almost no one is going to not…

> Almost no one is going to notice 5ms or below. At 20ms, many musicians are going to have this definite sense that something is off, but they can still hang. In between, it's a spectrum. Reminded me of this article, easily one of the top 20 I've ever read (Brian Eno, Francis Crick, Italo Calvino, roller coasters, trepanation, time, death, drumming) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/04/25/the-possibilia... > “I…

I also go to a game developer meetup. This developer was actually delaying all of the players, so that 40ms was their typical latency, no matter what. The developer had done some research with his multiplayer game, and concluded that most people didn't notice under 40ms round trip.

Some of the hardcore FPS players in the group could definitely tell!

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#493

Post by swyx » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 3:55 PM UTC

goostavos wrote: post #441

macintux wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Physical mute button with red LED mute status is a killer feature. I had a headset with that feature, and sure enough, it failed me on a sales call. I groaned at something our salesperson said, and despite the button having been pressed and the light being on, everyone heard me.

As someone who recently forgot they were still sharing their screen while simultaneously starting to chat with a colleague about how incompetent the person currently talking is... I feel your particular kind of pain.

ouch! how did you handle it? apologize and move on as if nothing happened??

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#494

Post by anonfornoreason » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 4:05 PM UTC

stolsvik wrote: post #463

brundolf wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they're using external speakers, the only reason you're not hearing echo is because it's being software-cancelled. Different systems are better or worse at this software-cancelling; phones are good, Apple computers are good, otherwise YMMV.

Teams is good, Slack is good, Zoom is good. Which ones are bad?

Google hangouts is the worst in my experience. Bringing external people in who aren’t used to google meets are always surprised. We buy everyone nice microphones and our meeting protocols are you unmute you talk then remute when done. We have a bunch of parents so this has been a good practice no matter what.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#495

Post by pier25 » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 4:53 PM UTC

tecleandor wrote: post #476

pier25 wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The V-Moda is great, but if you don't have headphones where it can be attached I recommend the $20 Sony ECMCS3 mic. It sounds fantastic for the price. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzGPyekZE7w https://www.amazon.com/Sony-ECMCS3-Omnidirectional-Stereo-Mi...

I've seen in some places that this might need some power (as a Rodes VideoMicro needs from the camera) so it wouldn't work in a laptop. Where did you connect it?

It has worked on anything I've used it on (MBP, iMac, PC desktop, iPad, etc).

You do need one of those TRRS splitters though.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#496

Post by pkroll » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 6:14 PM UTC

tedk-42 wrote: post #446

I'm surprised at the tune of HN about advocating towards higher quality audio input tech. If anything, we should be actively fighting this trend and instead focus on training ourselves to listen carefully rather than relying on 'good audio' to hear a message.

You're talking about a training effort of unknown structure and length, for millions of people, who are already mostly confident they're "listening carefully." Better quality audio tech, is much cheaper and easier.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#497

Post by wenc » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 6:28 PM UTC

esolyt wrote: post #448

owenversteeg wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience AirPods have excellent mics for what they are. They're definitely a million times better than the built in mic on the various (high-end) phones and laptops I've used in recent years. I wonder how they compare to a standalone mic or a decent headset mic (or that ModMic you mentioned.)

AirPods have a worse mic than pretty much anything you can get. Macbook Pro's built-in microphone or Apple's $20 wired earbuds both have much better mics than AirPods. I would suggest recording yourself using different microphones and comparing them to see how bad Airpods mic is.

Just did this. My AirPods Pro sounded a lot worse (very soft, muffled and way less resonant) than the pair of analog 3.5mm wired earbuds that came with an older iPhone.

I suspect it's because the wired earbuds had a mic near my throat whereas the Airpods' mic were up near my ears. The difference is very noticeable.

Looks like I'll be keeping my wired earbuds around for future conference calls.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#498

Post by ashleigheharris » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 7:16 PM UTC

This blog post has a bunch of headset and mic recommendations across a variety of price points: https://www.highfidelity.com/blog/the-best-headphones-headse...

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#499

Post by varispeed » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 7:18 PM UTC

ruph123 wrote: post #11

A cheap and usable condenser mic costs 30 bucks (e.g. Fifine), a lavalier mic costs between 2 bucks on aliexpress and 50 for e.g. from Rode. (I found that the ultra cheap aliexpress are the exact same like the no-brand 10 bucks on amazon, like so many things) I got both but mostly use the condenser mic and it is an absolute game changer. If you want to explain something it is so noticeable in the eyes of your confere…

Is it ethical to buy such equipment from China? You never know how it was made and that country does have a record of human rights abuse. I'd rather pay more and buy something made locally.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#500

Post by ruph123 » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 7:43 PM UTC

varispeed wrote: post #499

ruph123 wrote: post #11

A cheap and usable condenser mic costs 30 bucks (e.g. Fifine), a lavalier mic costs between 2 bucks on aliexpress and 50 for e.g. from Rode. (I found that the ultra cheap aliexpress are the exact same like the no-brand 10 bucks on amazon, like so many things) I got both but mostly use the condenser mic and it is an absolute game changer. If you want to explain something it is so noticeable in the eyes of your confere…

Is it ethical to buy such equipment from China? You never know how it was made and that country does have a record of human rights abuse. I'd rather pay more and buy something made locally.

> I'd rather pay more and buy something made locally.

Do you mean the lavalier mic from Aliexpress I mentioned? Well I first ordered one from Amazon and from knowing that and from looking at many other offers it is clear that these are pretty much all the same model. And so you pay for different marketing. When it comes to “not knowing how it’s made”: It is not even using a USB connection but rather plugs right into the microphone jack. So not sure how this could be used for surveillance. And regarding the human rights: Sure that is not ok. But most things are made in China and it is hard to escape. But if you find something good made “locally” (wherever that might be for you) then please share!