Harman Audio Voice-controlled speakers have rapidly become an immensely popular and ubiquitous technology, with over half of US owners reporting they consider their speaker essential to everyday life and over one quarter planning to increase usage within one year – this market segment represents one of the fastest-growing consumer electronics sectors.
HARMAN is a company with over 70 years of experience creating premium audio electronics such as JBL, AKG and Samsung’s Mark Levinson brands. Their ‘house of brands’ covers every stage of music production – from AKG microphones and Studer recording equipment used in top studios around the world, to sound systems at major concerts as well as smartphone or laptop audio players.
As a pioneer of modern high-fidelity audio, HARMAN needed to discover what headphones produced the optimal sound when listening. They conducted blind tests with numerous listeners in order to compare frequency response curves from various headphone models; additionally they conducted equalization tests by altering either volume or amplitude levels to alter frequency responses and find which were preferred by audiences.
Their experiment revealed that the most preferred response curve is one closely aligned to what a listener experiences when listening through traditional stereo loudspeaker systems; this is known as the Harman Curve and used in their products to ensure optimal sound reproduction.