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A total harmonic distortion analyzer calculates the total harmonic content of a sinewave with some distortion, expressed as total harmonic distortion (THD). A typical application is to determine the THD of an amplifier by using a very-low-distortion sinewave input and examining the output.
An audio analyzer is a test and measurement instrument used to objectively quantify the audio performance of electronic and electro-acoustical devices. Audio quality metrics cover a wide variety of parameters, including level, gain, noise, harmonic and intermodulation distortion, frequency response, relative phase of signals, interchannel crosstalk, and more.
Alternatively, if the distortion products are at higher frequencies, a highpass filter can be used if its cutoff rate is sufficiently steep to not affect the expected distortion products. The output of the filter is measured as a percentage of the fundamental, and the reported value will be the distortion value.
An alternative technique, total harmonic distortion measurement, cancels out the fundamental with a notch filter and measures the total remaining signal, which is total harmonic distortion plus noise; it does not give the harmonic-by-harmonic detail of an analyser. Spectrum analyzers are also used by audio engineers to assess their work.
A system may have low distortion for a steady-state signal, but not on sudden transients. In amplifiers, this problem can be traced to power supplies in some instances, to insufficient high-frequency performance or to excessive negative feedback. Related measurements are slew rate and rise time. Distortion in transient response can be hard to ...
Electrostatic speakers can have lower harmonic distortion but suffer higher intermodulation distortion. 3% distortion residue corresponds to 1 or 2% total harmonic distortion. Professional monitors may maintain modest distortion up to around 110 dB SPL at 1 m, but almost all domestic speaker systems distort badly above 100 dB SPL.
In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal.In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal representing sound or a video signal representing images, in an electronic device or communication channel.
If the sine wave is applied to a linear circuit, such as a non–distortion amplifier, the output is still a sine wave (but may acquire a phase shift). However, if the sine wave is applied to a nonlinear circuit, the resulting distortion creates harmonics; frequency components at integer multiples nf of the fundamental frequency f.