We use the term “higher” to describe notes of smaller wavelengths, and this term seems strangely fitting in a way that I don’t quite understand. For example, when a band is playing heavy bass notes and then a singer comes in with treble notes, it seems like the vocal notes are actually physically *higher* (like, in the room or in my ears) than the bass notes.
Is this a real thing? Or am I just imagining it? Or is it just subconscious association with the words “high” and “low” which we use to describe these notes? Or maybe I’m just noticing that speakers and venues usually put the woofers on the bottom and the tweeters on the top?
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Our ears are better at locating sound locations with higher frequencies than with lower frequencies. But this is typically more noticeable with larger gaps in frequency response. In a home theater or high end audio system it may have only one subwoofer and placement of this is not very critical since bass is harder for us to pinpoint a location from. Whereas higher frequency speakers need to have proper placement and elevation to create a proper Soundstage or for surround sound to work properly.
As far as a single instrument climbing scales and seeming like it’s elevation is rising with each higher note it’s 100% mental. Unless we tilt our head both ears are at the same level yet our brain is able to decipher if a sound is coming from a source that is at a higher or lower elevation based on tiny nuances in sound bouncing off of surfaces. That fact our brain can do this is nothing short of amazing. This evolved to give us an advantage both for hunting and for detecting danger. One theory is that outside with no roof over our head the ground is going to be the largest object for sound to bounce off of and lower frequencies will bounce off that surface better. So our brain figured out if it hears more lows it is a sound it is hearing from the ground and the opposite is true for highs. Our brain then exaggerates that perceived elevation because our brain is trying to compare and contrast two different sounds against each other. It creates an auditory illusion. This is similar to how our eyes will see a color as lighter or darker based on the background color. Our brain is more concerned with pointing out what is different rather than giving us 100% accurate info.
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