Digitizing oral history: can you hear the difference?
OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives
ISSN: 1065-075X
Article publication date: 10 August 2015
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to answer the questions: Can students discern the difference between oral histories digitized at archival quality (96 kHz/24-bit) versus CD-quality (44.1 kHz/16-bit)? and How important do they believe this difference is? Digitization of analog audio recordings has become the recommended best practice in preserving and making available oral histories. Additionally, well-accepted standards in performing this work are available. However, there is relatively little research that addresses if individuals can hear a qualitative difference in recordings made with best practices versus those that have not.
Design/methodology/approach
In all, 53 individuals participated in the study, where they listened to three sets of oral histories and had to decide which was the archival-quality recording versus the CD-quality recording and mark their answer on a survey.
Findings
Students could discern less than half of the time on average which was the archival quality versus the CD-quality recording. Further, after listening to the differences, they most often indicated the difference was “a little bit important”.
Practical implications
This research does not suggest that archivists abandon well-established sound digitization practices that produce results that audio archivists (and those able to hear fine-grain audio differences) find superior. Rather, it does imply that additional work may be needed to train listeners to discern these fine-grain differences, and appreciate the highest-fidelity replication of original audio recordings.
Originality/value
This research addresses a gap in the literature by connecting audio digitization practices to its impact on listener perception.
Keywords
Citation
Cocciolo, A. (2015), "Digitizing oral history: can you hear the difference?", OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 125-133. https://doi.org/10.1108/OCLC-03-2014-0019
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited