It would appear that MP3 compression actually drains the positive emotions that can be evoked in a listener. A new study by the Audio Engineering Library has determined that digital files with low compression rates actually diminish the “the timbral and emotional characteristics” of a song. Called The Effects of MP3 Compression on Perceived Emotional Characteristics in Musical Instruments, the study observed music samples both compressed and uncompressed at several different bitrates over ten emotional categories.
As the Audio Engineering Library would discover, MP3 compression strengthened emotional characteristics like mysterious, shy, scary and sad. On the other end of the spectrum, positive ones like happy, heroic, romantic, comic and calm were all wakened by the low bitrates. Interestingly enough, anger was unaffected across the board, which the AEL says is probably due to the level of compression, which results in a background noise that sounds something like a growl. For all the jazz enthusiasts out there, the study also noted that the trumpet was the instrument most affected by compression, while the horn was the least affected.
Check out the full study here, and remember that time you reach that incredible moment of catharsis on a track on your coveted and recently rarified iPod Classic that the moment could be better if you were listening on pretty much anything else.
