Spectrogram

Grants a new appreciation for the world

     

I took my sense of hearing for granted before using this app. Being a very visually-oriented person, I've found that the world has become much more interesting now that I can conveniently visualize sounds. I now frequently take out my iPod to listen to speech, machinery, music, and other common, yet potentially interesting sounds. For example, I've watched as an opera singer's vibrato traced perfect sinusoids into the spectrogram as the singer held a note, and in another instance, I was able to visualize touch-tone dialing. I've seen the harmonics in the squeal of brakes and shrieks of whistles, constant tones in the hum of an air-conditioning unit, and the distinct high-frequency tone emitted by my TV. I can also whistle a melody and get a rough idea of what its notes are. I've even used this app to visualize my roommate's snoring!

This app has been a constant source of curiosity; owning it has been immensely satisfying. Its only shortcoming is the lack of a cursor for precise time-frequency identification, which is a very minor concern. It's an otherwise flawless tool, and the learning experience has made it well worth its price.