How does my ear differentiates, that it’s the TV sound and not my neighbor being slaughtered?

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So when I pass by my neighbor’s door, and I hear the noise someone bleeding in the movie makes(no music, no suspension sound effects, plain pain moaning), I initially know it’s a movie.

How? What exactly makes the sound of a person moaning from pain different from an actual person moaning, that doesn’t make 1000’s of false alarm 911 phone calls everyday all around the globe?

In: Technology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Many possible factors.

First and foremost, 99% of all sounds that you could hear from a TV are compressed to save storage space or broadcast bandwidth (depending if it’s a disc, streaming, or cable/satellite/over-the-air TV signal). This limits the range of frequencies available, so you are picking up subconsciously that the sound of the screaming is artificial because certain high and low frequencies are just missing entirely. An extreme example of this is how people sound different over the phone.

Next, all modern TVs have two or more speakers, so there’s a subtle difference in the timing of when you hear the sound. We are very attuned to this, because it’s how we can tell what direction sound is coming from, but hearing two identical sounds from the same direction is an immediate tell that it’s artificial. The effect is even stronger the more speakers are added. I mention this, because if your neighbor WAS being slaughtered, you would only hear one main sound, not two.

And finally, the sounds of someone being slaughtered on TV are often highly exaggerated and not really accurate to real life, because they need to enhance the spectacle. As an example, look to Sir Christopher Lee’s famous quote about the Lord of the Rings, where he told the director that the sound of someone being stabbed in the back was not at all like what had been scripted.

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