5 ms·

Are they the same frequency? Can most humans hear a difference? Do we need more than the two questions above?

• midenginedcoupe 4y ago
  Are two competing programming languages Turing-complete? Can end-users of the program tell which one was used? Do we need more than the two questions above? If programmers thought like this HN would be empty!
• swores 4y ago
  It would be possible for most humans to notice something but feel indifferent, or for a sizeable minority to really hate something. So just abstractly I'd say that yes you do need more than those two questions.
• PeterisP 4y ago
  No, and yes. The difference is obvious even those who don't distinguish pitches much (can you hear the difference in the video linked in the article - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GhAuZH6phs&t=21s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GhAuZH6phs&t=21s ) because the 'wrong' one played in a scale or a chord sounds really, really horrible; that's why we have all the work done on 'tempered' tuning to reduce the gap so that everything is just slightly off.
• vnorilo 4y ago
  The relationship between pitch and frequency is not simple. The physical frequency for a pitch can be derived in several ways. One example is the Pythagorean system where the interval of fifth is set as a frequency ratio of 3/2. This system yields clearly distinct frequencies for D# and Eb. In 12 tone equal temperament, a semitone is set as a frequency ratio of 2^(1/12). In this system you get the same frequency. You can also derive frequencies from simple fractions of the scale root. In this instance you would generally obtain D# and Eb from unrelated roots.