02 · EQUAL-LOUDNESS LANDSCAPE
ISO 226 CONTOURS — THE TOPOGRAPHY OF PERCEPTION
03 · THE MASKING SHADOW
SIMULTANEOUS & TEMPORAL MASKING — HOW LOUD SOUNDS ERASE QUIET ONES
04 · THE CRITICAL BAND SIEVE
24 BARK-SCALE BANDS — THE AUDITORY FILTER BANK
05 · THE HAAS EFFECT TIMELINE
PRECEDENCE EFFECT — HOW TIMING DOMINATES LEVEL IN LOCALIZATION
06 · BINAURAL BEAT MACHINE
INTERAURAL FREQUENCY DIFFERENCE — USE HEADPHONES
LEFT EAR — CARRIER
RIGHT EAR — CARRIER + BEAT
BRAINWAVE ZONES (beat frequency Hz)
PSEUDOSCIENCE: Claims that specific frequencies reliably entrain brainwaves to produce measurable cognitive effects (focus, sleep, creativity) lack strong peer-reviewed evidence. Effects observed in small studies may reflect expectation and relaxation rather than neural entrainment.
07 · LOUDNESS WAR ARCHAEOLOGY
1980–2024 — THE COMPRESSION OF MUSIC
08 · THE COCKTAIL PARTY PROBLEM
AUDITORY STREAM SEGREGATION — SELECTIVE ATTENTION IN NOISE
09 · EAR FREQUENCY MAP
TONOTOPIC ORGANIZATION — THE COCHLEA AS A FREQUENCY RULER
10 · OTOACOUSTIC EMISSION SIMULATOR
COMBINATION TONES — WHEN THE EAR GENERATES ITS OWN FREQUENCIES
11 · ARTISTS OF PSYCHOACOUSTIC PRACTICE
COMPOSERS & SOUND ARTISTS WHO MADE THE EAR THE MEDIUM
ALVIN LUCIER
Room acoustics, standing waves, brainwave sonification
I Am Sitting in a Room (1969)
Recorded speech re-recorded until the room's resonant frequencies obliterate the original words, leaving pure acoustic signature.
MARYANNE AMACHER
Otoacoustic emissions, architectural sound, extreme SPL
City-Links (1967–1980)
Used the ear's own nonlinear distortion as a compositional instrument — the listener's cochlea generated tones not in the loudspeaker signal.
RYOJI IKEDA
Sinusoidal precision, data sonification, threshold perception
test pattern (2008–)
Works at the perceptual limits of frequency and time, making audible the boundary between signal and noise at the edge of hearing.
LA MONTE YOUNG
Just intonation, drone, sustained frequency ratios
The Well-Tuned Piano (1964–)
Extended duration exposes the beating patterns of just intervals — psychoacoustic phenomena become structural elements of the composition.
ÉLIANE RADIGUE
Analog synthesis, feedback, slow spectral evolution
Trilogie de la Mort (1988–1993)
Works emerge from the psychoacoustics of near-unison frequencies — difference tones, beating, and sum tones heard as autonomous phenomena.
FRANCISCO LÓPEZ
Environmental recordings, blindfolded listening, absolute sound
La Selva (1997)
Strips visual context to isolate pure auditory experience — the listener's perceptual system becomes the sole interpretive apparatus.
PAULINE OLIVEROS
Deep listening, somatic attention, improvisation
Deep Listening (1989)
Theorized listening as a distinct cognitive practice from hearing — conscious direction of attention changes what the auditory system extracts from sound.
WALTER MURCH
Film sound design, psychoacoustic mixing, editorial rhythm
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Developed the theory that film cuts feel natural when synchronized with eye blinks and inner speech — perception as an active, predictive process.
12 · GLOSSARY
24 TERMS — THE LANGUAGE OF PSYCHOACOUSTICS