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Chat => Chit Chat => Topic started by: sevenlayermuddle on December 05, 2017, 05:28:45 PM

Title: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: sevenlayermuddle on December 05, 2017, 05:28:45 PM
Apparently, many people hear a sound from this gif, yet no sound exists.

I like to think I can experience most illusions, but I do not ‘hear’ anything unexpected.   Absolutely zero, on iPad, PC, and even on TV. ???

Anybody else?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42237092
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: Dray on December 05, 2017, 06:24:41 PM
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Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: burakkucat on December 05, 2017, 10:18:31 PM
I was unable to find the link to the GIF file. <Puzzled>  ???
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: Dray on December 05, 2017, 10:23:56 PM
http://i.imgur.com/ga7w2z3.gif
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: burakkucat on December 05, 2017, 10:31:43 PM
http://i.imgur.com/ga7w2z3.gif

Thank you.  :)

Having now watched the GIF file, absolutely nothing was "heard".  :no:
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: Dray on December 05, 2017, 10:34:12 PM
Did you have the volume turned up?
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: burakkucat on December 05, 2017, 10:35:48 PM
Only at my normal level for normal listening.
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: Dray on December 05, 2017, 10:38:50 PM
I tried turning up the volume on my echo, the range is 0-10. It does indeed go up to 11.
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: burakkucat on December 05, 2017, 10:42:01 PM
Retried, with volume at 100% and . . . nothing.
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: sevenlayermuddle on December 05, 2017, 11:07:57 PM
Better half has also failed to hear the effect.   I must say, becoming sceptical of the assertion that 70% of people hear a thudding sound.    ???

Did you have the volume turned up?

 :lol:

Probably shouldn’t admit it, but when trying it on the iPad, I failed to resist the natural temptation to hold the speakers up to my ear.    :blush:
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: Ronski on December 06, 2017, 06:10:09 AM
Nothing hear either (spelling/pun intended)
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: kitz on December 06, 2017, 10:48:35 AM
I can't hear anything either.   Although I can understand why some people would expect to hear a thud. 
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: roseway on December 06, 2017, 11:17:07 AM
Like everyone else here, I can't hear anything, and I'm suspicious about the poll which claimed that 70% of those who responded believed they heard a thudding sound. That just isn't believable, unless the poll was biased in some way.
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: sevenlayermuddle on December 06, 2017, 11:40:35 AM
Accordingly to the Beeb, it’s been kicking around since 2008.   I wonder if, just possibly, there might have been a bug in certain contemporary gif renderers of that vintage that allowed video signals, in some obscure circumstances, to bleed through into audio channels?

I do remember, days of analogue TVs built with valve technology, it was quite hard to prevent some video, usually scene-dependent, from causing audio interference.  But I don’t remember seeing many animated gifs in those days. :D
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: Lil-Koby on December 06, 2017, 10:03:23 PM
Hehe, this a good one... i can hear the sound ;D :o
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: sevenlayermuddle on December 07, 2017, 12:40:17 AM
Hehe, this a good one... i can hear the sound ;D :o

Very interesting.   I now feel slightly less guilty for starting the thread.. :)

I assume of course, volume settings make no difference?

Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: tubaman on December 07, 2017, 09:43:47 AM
Definitely goes 'bump' here!
 ???
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: kitz on December 07, 2017, 12:26:40 PM
I assume of course, volume settings make no difference?

No it wont.  The .gif file format is incapable of audio.... in the same way that .txt files cant display images.
 .gif was specifically designed to be small file size - it does this by compressing the image and using a maximum of 256 colours..  which is why its not much good for photographs.   Animated gifs (89a) are just a series of images strung together in a loop.

It really is just an auditory illusion.

It may be possible with some trickery to make .gifs appear to have sound...  but it would involve changing settings on the remote server to parse say .avi as a .gif...  in the same way it's possible to get php to parse .htm files.   Not sure if that would work with .avi as I havent looked into it.
I suppose you could also with CSS/html5 get a hidden sound file to play simultaneously, to make it appear like a .gif has sound.   
Either way it depends on server side stuff and as soon as you download the file to view it locally the .gif will either just be a plain image... or it will simply fail to open as an invalid file extension because programs designed to open .gif files (eg photoshop) wont be able to read the headers.
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: sevenlayermuddle on December 07, 2017, 01:56:06 PM
No it wont.  The .gif file format is incapable of audio.... in the same way that .txt files cant display images.

I was actually thinking about, perhaps, a bug in the gif renderer, that manifested as an interference (crackles or pops, etc) with a supposedly unrelated audio driver.   But I really don’t know enough to speculate about the possibility, or probability, that such a bug could exist, or whether it could then be deliberately exploited to create gifs that go ‘bump’.

If the ‘illusion’ was affected by volume settings, I think that would be strong evidence to support my speculation, hence my interest.    :)
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: tickmike on December 08, 2017, 02:44:40 PM
All I heard is the wind in the trees outside and my 'Tinnitus' in my left ear  :-\ of a 5kHz oscillation .  :(
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: V_R on December 08, 2017, 03:09:22 PM
I hear nothing. Because its a gif...
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: WWWombat on December 09, 2017, 12:55:03 PM
I don't hear anything (bar the tinnitus).

What I find is that my head wants to nod almost imperceptibly at each of the camera shakes, alongside a tiny "grunt" from my throat.

Am I adding my own sound effects because of the missing ones? Or is my body reacting, flinching, to an expected "forceful movement" that the shake implies?
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: kitz on December 09, 2017, 01:44:20 PM
This is quite a good auditory illusion.  .midi files are incapable of vocals...  but your brain fills in the words.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY6h3pKqYI0[/youtube]

The first few tracks worked really well for me. 
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: sevenlayermuddle on December 09, 2017, 06:55:39 PM
This is quite a good auditory illusion.  .midi files are incapable of vocals...  but your brain fills in the words.

Works well for me too.  Thanks for that. :)
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: kitz on December 09, 2017, 11:14:11 PM
There were also a couple of tunes that I didnt know the words to and I couldnt make out anything on those EG the Pokemon one... despite the vid saying "Having been raised on Pokemon, the words are remarkably clear"  I'm afraid I heard nothing other than a mash of sound. :(
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: burakkucat on December 09, 2017, 11:51:21 PM
The effect clearly relies upon with what the listener/viewer is familiar.

In the case of the auditory examples the first two were perfectly clear, the rest were nothing but noises at different frequencies.
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: sevenlayermuddle on December 10, 2017, 12:06:52 AM
Another of my favourites is the musical equivalent of the Escher’s/Penrose’s impossible staircase...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O35trvoVCWI

 :)
Title: Re: Silent gif audio illusion
Post by: phi2008 on December 12, 2017, 07:33:07 PM
I didn't hear anything, and suggesting to the viewer they should hear something before they view it seems like psychological trickery.