AUDIO ANALYSIS .6. TESTING AUDIO CABLES

In testing two cables connecting audio components, three types of tests were considered. The first type called for the listeners to rate the sound quality of A and B, with A and B identified as such and presented repeatedly. In addition to providing data, this served to train the subjects so the authors called these training trials. The second type was the discrimination trial (AAAA versus ABAB) in which the subject's task was merely to say whether or not the same sound was presented four times in succession. It had been conjectured that subjects might find this easier than an ABX trial, which was the third type conducted. An ABX trial started with the presentation of A and B, followed by an unknown stimulus X. The subject's task was to say whether the third presentation was A or B.