Question 1

Audiation is to sound design as visualization is to character design.

Accepted Answer

Audiation, the process of imagining or mentally hearing music, is analogous to visualization, where one mentally visualizes images or scenes, in the context of creating or designing. Just as visualization is crucial in character design for imagining and planning the appearance and traits of characters, audiation is essential in sound design for conceptualizing and planning the auditory elements of a project.

Question 2

Hearing and listening are interchangeable terms.

Accepted Answer

Hearing is the physiological process of perceiving sound, while listening is the active process of paying attention and interpreting those sounds.

Question 3

Dialogue is typically panned to the onscreen position of a character.

Accepted Answer

In film and television, dialogue is often panned to match the onscreen position of a character to create a more realistic and immersive audio experience for the audience.

Question 4

Sounds are typically processed with reverb to imply the space that the action is occurring in.

Accepted Answer

Reverb is added to sounds in audio production to simulate the acoustic characteristics of specific spaces, making the audio sound as if it is occurring within a particular environment or room.

Question 5

Frequency is expressed in units called Hertz.

Accepted Answer

Frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz), which quantifies the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon.

Question 6

Frequency response refers to the range of frequencies that a playback device such as a television can reproduce.

Accepted Answer

Frequency response refers to the range of frequencies that a device can reproduce, indicating how well it can output low, mid, and high frequencies, which is applicable to various playback devices including televisions.

Question 7

Which device has the greatest frequency response?
A) Cell phone
B) Movie theater speakers
C) Television
D) Computer speakers
E) All of these devices have the same frequency response.

Accepted Answer

Movie theater speakers are designed to handle a wide range of frequencies to provide high-quality sound for various audio effects, making them have the greatest frequency response among the listed options.

Question 8

Which device can produce the widest dynamic range?
A) Cell phone
B) Movie theater speakers
C) Television
D) Computer speakers
E) All of these devices have the same frequency response.

Accepted Answer

Movie theater speakers are designed to produce a wide dynamic range to accommodate the vast array of sounds in films, from the quietest whispers to the loudest explosions, providing a more immersive experience.

Question 9

The speed of light is faster than the speed of sound yet in film we typically hear an object or action at roughly the same moment we see it.

Accepted Answer

This is because movies and TV shows synchronize the visual and audio elements for a cohesive viewing experience, despite the real-world difference in the speeds of light and sound.

Question 10

Low frequencies are non-directional due to their extended wave-lengths.

Accepted Answer

Low frequencies have longer wavelengths which makes it harder for the human ear to determine the direction from which the sound is coming, making them appear non-directional.

Question 11

Sample rates reflect the dynamic range of audio while bit depths describe the potential frequency response.

Accepted Answer

Sample rates determine the frequency response of audio (how high or low the tones are), while bit depths describe the dynamic range (the difference between the loudest and quietest parts).

Question 12

Audio codecs like AAC, mp3, and Dolby have less audio resolution than non-compressed PCM.

Accepted Answer

Audio codecs like AAC, mp3, and Dolby use compression techniques to reduce file size, which often results in some loss of audio quality or resolution compared to non-compressed PCM (Pulse-Code Modulation) formats that maintain the full fidelity of the original audio source.

Question 13

At least 40,000 samples are required to accurately represent the frequency of a 20 kHz signal.

Accepted Answer

The Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem states that the sampling rate must be at least twice the highest frequency component of the signal to accurately represent the signal. In this case, the highest frequency component is 20 kHz, so the sampling rate must be at least 40 kHz.

Quiz 1: Foundations of Audio for Image