Mighty Optical Illusions » Audio Illusions

Virtual Haircut Audio Illusion MP3

Vurdlak — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:52:00 +0000

Adam Cline found another audio illusion for me to put on the site. I tried serving it through Google Mail podcast player, but it didn’t work. This audio illusion works in a same way as holophonic matchbox mp3s. Visit our audio illusions category for more cool illusionary mp3s. Don’t forget to hear Shepard’s Paradox, and be sure to check your hearing at “Ringtone audible only to under 20 year olds“. Oh, I almost forgot to mention:

This effect works best if you put on your headphones on. Download and listen to the Virtual Haircut mp3.

Aphex Twin’s Devil Face Illusion

Vurdlak — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 11:58:00 +0000

Remeber how back in the old days, people accused Black Sabbath of sneaking satanic messages into their song, that could only be heard by playing it backwards. First time I was entrodouced to this kind of hidden mesagges, was when I saw Little Nicky staring Adam Sandler.

Well, that’s nothing compared to Aphex Twin, who sneaked in the Aphex Twin face (Richard David James, himself) in their Windowlicker EP in 1999. The face can be revealed when the song is played by a computer software that visualizes sound waves, (ie Cool Edit Pro). Here’s the result! Was it done or purpose, or just another optical illusion, judge for yourself… Jump inside this article for more simmilar stuff! This belongs to Multiple Meanings Category. If you know of any other cool hidden mesagge examples, come to our new forum and discuss it with us!

Extract of Plaid’s “3 recurring” from “Rest Proof Clockwork”

Venetian Snares’ “Look” from “Songs about my Cats”

Spiral at the end of track #1 on Aphex Twin’s “Windowlicker”

Ringtone Audible Only to Under-20 Year Olds

Vurdlak — Wed, 24 May 2006 19:05:00 +0000

Woow!!! This has to be the coolest audio illusion of all times! Apparently, using the Mosquito device, UK pupils have recorded the ultra-high sound that is audible only to under-20-year-olds. Your hearing gets progressively worse around the age of 20, so if you play a sound on the edge of your hearing spectrum, unless you have perfect hearing, you won’t be able to hear it at all. As I understood, the audio file is somewhere between 18KHz – 20KHz. When I played it, I haven’t heard anything, and thought it was just another internet hoax, but then my 14 year old brother started yelling at me, to lower that sound cause it’s driving him crazy – and he was in lower apartment!! Another thing.. my dog also flipped out! Here is the audio file. Check it out and report your findings!

This effect works best if you put on your head-phones. If the player below doesn’t work for you, download the Mosquito High Freq mp3.

1. Use your headphones if you don’t hear it the first time.
2. Test this mp3 file on your little brother, sister or a dog.
3. Be carefull not to drive someone crazy with this.
4. Test Your hearing here.

Shaking Matchbox Holophonic Audio Illusion

Vurdlak — Sun, 14 May 2006 19:20:00 +0000

Another user submitted illusion we got today. It’s a little different type than previous Audio Illusion, Shepard’s Paradox I posted. Be sure to check Mosquito Audio Illusion too! Def Oksbjerre sent us this MP3 file with explanation:

“This one is so amazing. You have to listen to it with headphones. A shaking matchbox is moved around your entire body. It’s so realistic!”

This effect works best if you put on your headphones on. Download and play the Shaking Matchbox mp3.

Audio “Optical” Illusions

Vurdlak — Fri, 05 May 2006 00:01:00 +0000

This time “Mighty Optical Illusions” brings you another type of illusion. Audio illusions, also known as Audio Paradoxes are sometimes to be found in nature. The best known audio paradox is known as Shepard’s paradox. It is the audio equivalent of the endless staircase illusion made famous by M. C. Escher. In this audio paradox a series of tones can be made to sound as if they are ascending or descending in pitch forever. You can download these three mp3’s to see what I’m talking about.

The following graph of Shepard’s paradox shows frequency versus time. You can plainly see that the single pitch section appears to be increasing. Note that if the same graph is looped you can see that the finishing pitch is the same as the starting pitch.

It may be obvious to the eye, but the ear cannot perceive where the sample starts and finishes. If you listen to this sample the tones will appear to increase in pitch even if the sample loops back to the beginning and starts over. Here are the Audio Samples. This effect works best if you put on your head-phones. If the players below don’t work for you, download the mp3s, and loop them in your player.

Shepard’s ascending tones (MP3) – This is a recording of Shepard’s paradox synthesized by Jean-Claude Risset. Pairs of chords sound as if they are advancing up the scale, but in fact the starting pair of chords is the same as the finishing pair. If you loop this sample seamlessly then it should be impossible to tell where the sample begins and ends.

Falling bells (MP3) – This is a recording of a paradox where bells sound as if they are falling through space. As they fall their pitch seems to be getting lower, but in fact the pitch gets higher. If you loop this sample you will clearly see the pitch jump back down when the sample repeats. This reveals that the start pitch is obviously much lower than the finishing pitch.

Quickening Beat (MP3) – This recording is subtle. A drum beat sounds as if it is quickening in tempo, but the starting tempo is the same as this finishing tempo.