Learning, a major factor influencing preferences for high-fidelity reproducing systems

Frequency range preference of 210 college students for monaurally reproduced music and speech was determined by an A-B-A preference test. Two groups of subjects then listened to music reproduced over a restricted frequency range and a relatively unrestricted frequency range respectively for six and one-half weeks. The results of a post-frequency range preference test indicate that: 1) learning plays an important role in determining preferences for sound reproducing systems; 2) continued contact with a particular system produces shifts in preference for this system; and 3) the average college student prefers music and speech reproduced over a restricted frequency range rather than an unrestricted frequency range.