listening with skin

[Borat]

Skin Plays a Remarkable Role in Human Hearing - US News and World Report

[Cal Weldon]

Interesting to see a scientist finally published what we already knew.

Skin and other soft tissue plays a huge role in auditory satisfaction.

I'm glad it was from UBC. "Sounds" like they are on the leading edge. (I also see they rated the #40 university in the world)

[Borat]

there are certain people who would say things like "such and such doesn't matter" for example frequencies below 20 hz don't matter because you can't "hear" them.

however you can certainly feel the floor vibrating. in other words you clearly perceive it - just not through ears.

in fact my friends rented out a space to some deaf DJ who ran a dance party for deaf people in Manhattan. they said he had some of the loudest bass they ever heard.

too many people reach completely wrong conclusions by following what they think is good science. there is always a potential for there being an angle that haven't been taken into account.

the possibility of such an angle existing is especially large in a brain with 100 billion neurons. one must be careful applying one-line formulas to its operation.

[Key]

The way I look at it is they are sort of overlapping senses. Like taste is to smell they interact and influence one another. Bass without bone resonance doesn't sound "real" to me.

[Borat]

Originally Posted by Key

Like taste is to smell

great analogy !

[Don Hills]

For a good analysis of the physiological processes of hearing at low frequencies, go to the following link and check out the paper "Hearing at low and infrasonic frequencies", by H Moller & CS Pedersen.

Noise Health: Table of Contents

Take special notice of the section about the perception of low frequencies by profoundly deaf people.

In summary: Yes, you can perceive low frequencies with parts of the body other than your ears. But the required SPLs are much higher than those required for audibility (hear with the ears).

In my opinion, external vibration sources (such as the floor shaking) are much more effective than, say, body cavity resonance. A shaking floor taps into our earliest fight or flight reflexes - when the ground is shaking, something very big with lots of teeth is close by.

[chris661]

I guess this is why headphones are never as satisfying as a pair of 15" bass drivers. The response may be the same, but one is so much better