The process of making things equal or uniform; in audio, the adjustment of frequency response to achieve desired sound characteristics.
From Latin 'aequalis' meaning equal, through French 'égaliser'. The suffix '-ation' indicates the process or result of an action. The audio engineering sense developed in the 1920s with the advent of electronic sound recording and reproduction.
In audio engineering, equalization was originally developed to compensate for the physical limitations of telephone lines, literally 'equalizing' the signal strength across different frequencies. Today's bass and treble controls on stereos are simplified versions of professional equalizers that can adjust dozens of frequency bands.
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