What If Hearing Had Only 3 Receptors? Speech Stays Intelligible in Thought Experiment
matthen2 · x · 2026-08-08
The author poses a fascinating thought experiment: what if human ears functioned like eyes, possessing only three types of receptors?
Under this extreme spectral compression, speech remains surprisingly intelligible, though most other sounds lose their richness. This highlights that human hearing is far more discriminating than vision, while also demonstrating the inherent robustness and redundancy of speech signals.
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