GSL soundproof issue - Official comment - Page 13

On January 20 2011 03:20 s.a.y wrote:
Jinro is a baller for confessing.

On January 22 2011 11:18 RetFan wrote:
To Teamliquid members

The issue relating to soundproof booths has been an issue in Starcraft 1. The most notable case being the case of flash and what was termed an 'Ear Hack by some members of the TL community.

I'd like to point out how significant this issue is by discussing:

- The engineering of the sound booth
- The practical effects of 'ear hacking'

Construction of the sound proof booth

The booth used both in Starcraft and Starcraft II are different, however the design is practically unchanged.

A sound proof booth is mainly achieved through the use of two planes of sound proof glass, which have a vacuum between them. Since sound is a wave, it needs a medium through which to travel. As more than half the booth is constructed with this glass, it prevents most of the noise from entering in and out.

However, anyone who has lived in an apartment with windows made of soundproof glass knows that sound can still get through. Not through the glass itself but through layers of air that provide ventilation. Where I stay, I have sound proof glass surrounding one side of the building, yet I am able to hear the music from a club from my house which is 15 minutes away.

Now in the case of Starcraft, bear in mind that the source and the receiver (player) are very close. The energy density of sound waves will be the strongest in this scenario, as the intensity of sound is attenuated according to the inverse square of the distance from the source.

Next, we contemplate that the booth is also made of other elements that include metal, fabric and paper. This provides barely any real sound blockage from the commentators.The noise blockage comes exclusively from the ear muffs.

The practical effects of 'ear hacking'

It is established that the majority of sound reduction is achieved through the use of muffs and noise reduction in ear headphones, with the booth itself providing very little actual support. Again, ear muffs also do not provide perfect sound reduction against broad sound waves and in particular, speech.

In ear canal headphones can provide additional sound reduction properties but again, this can be very minimal. As an owner of a pair of Shure SE530 headphones, which boast superior noise reduction capabilities, I am very clear as to how the dynamics work. The way that noise is reduced is through blocking the ear canal using a choice of foam or silicone ear buds which can be chosen in accordance to size. Only a perfect fit can increase bass response and reduce noise. Anything less than a perfect fit allows most of the sound reduction properties to be negated.

As a result of inadequate sound reduction measures and the intensely loud commentator speakers, players who are smart are able to take advantage of the situation. By choosing a ear bud which is small, and wearing a particular brand of ear muffs, a player is able to hear most of what is being spoken or yelled by the commentators in a live broadcast. This provides invaluable information to the recipient of the information, allowing them to hard counter any type of play.

I suspect that KT Flash has been aware of this issue for a very long period of time and has been taking advantage of it. Time and time again, there have been matches where he turns his scouting SCV around for no reason, and is able to find proxy buildings built by his opponents. I am sure TL readers (non-flash) fans can give numerous examples.

I doubt Liquid Jinro thought about the repercussions of discussing the sound proofing issue in his interview. I believe that it was the adrenaline that caused him to state this in the interview. Otherwise, just like Flash, he could have exploited this physical flaw for many GSLs to come.

On January 26 2011 03:15 F u r u y a wrote:

Quoted for truth.

Despite not being an issue directly related to the engineering of booth itself — another thing that could help would be making the relative positions of the loudspeakers and the booth in such a way that the booth stays at the direction of lowest acoustic gain possible of the loudspeakers.

This was already pointed out by the user mojo_ca.

On January 22 2011 11:18 RetFan wrote:
To Teamliquid members

The issue relating to soundproof booths has been an issue in Starcraft 1. The most notable case being the case of flash and what was termed an 'Ear Hack by some members of the TL community.

I'd like to point out how significant this issue is by discussing:

- The engineering of the sound booth
- The practical effects of 'ear hacking'

Construction of the sound proof booth

The booth used both in Starcraft and Starcraft II are different, however the design is practically unchanged.

A sound proof booth is mainly achieved through the use of two planes of sound proof glass, which have a vacuum between them. Since sound is a wave, it needs a medium through which to travel. As more than half the booth is constructed with this glass, it prevents most of the noise from entering in and out.

However, anyone who has lived in an apartment with windows made of soundproof glass knows that sound can still get through. Not through the glass itself but through layers of air that provide ventilation. Where I stay, I have sound proof glass surrounding one side of the building, yet I am able to hear the music from a club from my house which is 15 minutes away.

Now in the case of Starcraft, bear in mind that the source and the receiver (player) are very close. The energy density of sound waves will be the strongest in this scenario, as the intensity of sound is attenuated according to the inverse square of the distance from the source.

Next, we contemplate that the booth is also made of other elements that include metal, fabric and paper. This provides barely any real sound blockage from the commentators.The noise blockage comes exclusively from the ear muffs.

The practical effects of 'ear hacking'

It is established that the majority of sound reduction is achieved through the use of muffs and noise reduction in ear headphones, with the booth itself providing very little actual support. Again, ear muffs also do not provide perfect sound reduction against broad sound waves and in particular, speech.

In ear canal headphones can provide additional sound reduction properties but again, this can be very minimal. As an owner of a pair of Shure SE530 headphones, which boast superior noise reduction capabilities, I am very clear as to how the dynamics work. The way that noise is reduced is through blocking the ear canal using a choice of foam or silicone ear buds which can be chosen in accordance to size. Only a perfect fit can increase bass response and reduce noise. Anything less than a perfect fit allows most of the sound reduction properties to be negated.

As a result of inadequate sound reduction measures and the intensely loud commentator speakers, players who are smart are able to take advantage of the situation. By choosing a ear bud which is small, and wearing a particular brand of ear muffs, a player is able to hear most of what is being spoken or yelled by the commentators in a live broadcast. This provides invaluable information to the recipient of the information, allowing them to hard counter any type of play.

I suspect that KT Flash has been aware of this issue for a very long period of time and has been taking advantage of it. Time and time again, there have been matches where he turns his scouting SCV around for no reason, and is able to find proxy buildings built by his opponents. I am sure TL readers (non-flash) fans can give numerous examples.

I doubt Liquid Jinro thought about the repercussions of discussing the sound proofing issue in his interview. I believe that it was the adrenaline that caused him to state this in the interview. Otherwise, just like Flash, he could have exploited this physical flaw for many GSLs to come.

On January 26 2011 06:33 Cyber_Cheese wrote:


im curious as to how accurate that is, whether it just sounds legit and uses someone really good (flash) as an example or whether its actually legitimately possible that the progamers hear it
though if i remember correctly they have game sounds on maximum too