Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

LISTENING TASTES TESTED RCA Laboratories Confirms Belief That Majority of Persons Prefers Natural Music With Full-Range of Tone Quality ALTHOUGH some surveys have XV indicated that music repro- duced by loudspeakers is more ac- ceptable to the public when its tonal range is restricted, a sub- stantial majority of listeners pre- fer natural music in its full range of tones and overtones, Dr. Harry F. Olson, section head of the Acou- stics Research Laboratory of RCA Laboratories, Princeton, N. J., re- ported to the Acoustical Society of America at its meeting held in the Hotel Pennsylvania, New York, on May 9. Dr. Olson based his conclu- sions on tests carried out at the Laboratories on more than 1,000 persons of various ages and voca- tions. In making the tests. Dr. Olson said, a small orchestra, consisting of piano, trumpet, clarinet, violin, contrabass, drums, and traps, was placed in a room acoustically treated to simulate conditions in an average size living room. A parti- tion constructed of material that absorbed all tonal frequencies above 5,000 cycles — the normal limiting range of radio reproduction—was placed between the musicians and the audience. By revolving movable panels in the partition, this limi- tation on tone quality could be re- moved, allowing the music to reach the audience unchanged. Additional tests with subjects in various age groups. Dr. Olson added, showed that 75% of listen- ers between 30 and 40 preferred the full frequency range of popular music while only 59% of those be- tween 14 and 20 expressed an ap- preciation for the unrestricted tonal range in this classification of music. "The listeners in the latter age group," Dr. Olson stated, "are prob- ably influenced by listening to radios, phonographs and juke boxes rather than orchestras and are, therefore, conditioned to a re- stricted frequency range." Popular Music Used in Tests Most of the tests were carried out using popular dance music. The small size of the room made it im- possible to play symphonic num- bers but listener preference in this direction was checked with a semi- classical selection. For all practical purposes, these results agreed close- ly with those obtained in the popu- lar-music test. When tests were carried out on speech, listeners preferred the full frequency range whether the audi- ence was familiar with the speak- er's voice or when the voice was being heard for the first time. In discussing the preferences of listeners for mechanically repro- duced music with restricted fre- quency range. Dr. Olson said that this choice might be due to the dis- tortions of sound which are in- ACOUSTICAL FILTERS USED IN RADIO-MUSIC TEST. herent in common types of repro- ducing systems. In his opinion, such distortions would be found less objectionable when frequencies above 5,000 cycles are eliminated. These possibilities, he said, would be explored in future investiga- tions. USES OF TELEVISION (Continued from page 11) by making numerous long-shots, close-ups and other special camera versions of the scenes involved in the working script. From the miles of film resulting from this pro- cedure, editors select the sections of footage best adapted to the de- velopment of the story. With high definition television cameras and a motion picture television recorder —a device that takes motion pic- tures of television screen images—■ these costly and time-consuming operations could be eliminated. This is how such a system might work: Instead of training a battery of motion picture cameras on the scene, an equal number of televi- sion cameras would be focused on the action, at angles specified by the director. The latter would then take his position in front of a group of television monitor screens on which the pictures recorded by all cameras would be reproduced simultaneously. As the director se- lected the best of the views shown, he would press a button and the output of the television camera which produced that view would be shifted instantly to a single screen. At the same instant, the motion picture television recorder would begin to record the images on a master film strip together with dialogue and sound effects. When all sequences were completed, the feature would be in its final edited form ready for the developing and printing laboratory. Television's contributions event- ually will affect all branches of man's endeavor. As an efficient and effective selling tool, it has no equal. In television also can rest a good measure of the world's social des- tiny. An opportunity to lift the general welfare is a rare privilege, yet through television all this and more can be done. [RADIO AGE 25]