Lacara Paul John L.

12- Amorosolo

 what is audio?

Audio is sound within the acoustic range available to humans. An audio frequency (AF) is
an electrical alternating current within the 20 to 20,000 hertz (cycles per second) range that can be used
to produce acoustic sound. In computers, audio is the sound system that comes with or can be added to
a computer. An audio card contains a special built-in processor and memory for processing audio files
and sending them to speakers in the computer. An audio file is a record of captured sound that can be
played back. Sound is a sequence of naturally analog signals that are converted to digital signals by the
audio card, using a microchip called an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). When sound is played, the
digital signals are sent to the speakers where they are converted back to analog signals that generate
varied sound. Audio files are usually compressed for storage or faster transmission. Audio files can be
sent in short stand-alone segments - for example, as files in the Wave file format.

 What are the popular forms of audio?

 wav - standard audio file format used mainly in Windows PCs. Commonly used for storing
uncompressed (PCM), CD-quality sound files, which means that they can be large in size -
around 10MB per minute of music. It is less well known that wave files can also be encoded with
a variety of codecs to reduce the file size (for example the GSM or mp3 codecs). A list of
common wave file codecs can be found here. Sample .wav file.

 mp3 - the MPEG Layer-3 format is the most popular format for downloading and storing music.
By eliminating portions of the audio file that are essentially inaudible, mp3 files are compressed
to roughly one-tenth the size of an equivalent PCM file while maintaining good audio quality.
We recommend the mp3 format for music storage. It is not that good for voice storage.
See here for a sample mp3 encoded wav file. Sample .mp3 file.

 ogg - a free, open source container format supporting a variety of codecs, the most popular of
which is the audio codec Vorbis. Vorbis files are often compared to MP3 files in terms of quality.
But the simple fact mp3 are so much more broadly supported makes it difficult to recommend
ogg files. Sample .ogg file.

 gsm - designed for telephony use in Europe, gsm is a very practical format for telephone quality
voice. It makes a good compromise between file size and quality. We recommend this format
for voice. Note that wav files can also be encoded with the gsm codec. See here for a sample
gsm encoded wav file. Sample .gsm file.
 dct - A variable codec format designed for dictation. It has dictation header information and can
be encrypted (often required by medical confidentiality laws). See here for a list of codecs
supported in dct files. The standard dct player is the Express Scribe Transcription Player.

 flac - a lossless compression codec. You can think of lossless compression as like zip but for
audio. If you compress a PCM file to flac and then restore it again it will be a perfect copy of the
original. (All the other codecs discussed here are lossy which means a small part of the quality is
lost). The cost of this losslessness is that the compression ratio is not good. But we recommend
flac for archiving PCM files where quality is important (eg. broadcast or music use). Sample .flac
file.

 What is the difference between hearing and listening?

Hearing is simply the act of perceiving sound by the ear . If you are not hearing-
impaired, hearing simply happens. Listening, however, is something you consciously choose to
do. Listening requires concentration so that your brain processes meaning from words and
sentences. Listening is different, It expands on hearing when we pay attention to the meaning of
what we hear. For example, a truck just rolled by on the road in front of our house.

 Identify the listening process

 The listening process involves five stages: receiving, understanding, evaluating, remembering
and responding.

 Active listening is a particular communication technique that requires the listener to provide
feedback on what he or she hears to the speaker.

 Three main degrees of active listening are repeating, paraphrasing, and reflecting.

 What is Intensity and Pitch?

The magnitude of a quantity (such as force or energy) per unit (as of area, charge, mass, or time)
A black or dark vicious substance obtained as a residue in the distillation of organic materials and
especially stars.
  Types of sound in a film (3types)

Diegetic Sound is anything that both the audience and characters can hear, such as environment
noises, dialogue between characters and sound coming from objects in the scene.
Non Diegetic Sound the opposite of Diegetic Sound, can only be heard by the audience and is a
reprehensive of coming from outside the story space. This includes film scores, exaggerated
sound effects and commentary.
Empathetic Sound is a sound within a certain scene which reflects the overall mood of the
scene. Overly Non-Diegetic in nature, but can be both, this could be represented by a sad song or
overture being played as a character is dying, or a happy song such as in wedding scene.
Anempathetic Sound in contrast to Empathetic Sound, empathetic sound is sound which seems
indifferent to the current mood of the scene, and at some points can be jarring or juxtaposition.

 What are the modes of Listening according to Michel Chion

According to Michel Chion, there are 3 modes of listening: casual, semantic, and
reduced.

Casual Listening

Casual Listening the most common form, is listening to identify the source of a
noise (Chion, 25). Through casual listening one can identify the source of a sound simply
by listening, without having to visually see its coming from.

Semantic Listening

This form of listening is much like interpreting language or code – one must listen to the
tone and intonation of a sound in order to interpret its implied meaning. Morse code, for
instance, it is a great example of semantic listening because every beep, tone, and click
contributes to convey a message.

Reduced Listening

Reduced Listening, a mode of listening which requires the listener to focus primarily on
the traits of the sound itself, “independent of its cause and meaning.”