[ssalazar]

Spectrograms are a convenient way to visualize the data/algorithm but are rarely part of the actual analysis. They are already using the 2d array so to speak. In any case a spectrogram is just a 2d array where the magnitude of each array element is mapped to a color, so its effectively the same thing. Few if any people use visual representations of sound for analysis, except for the crazies who run spectrograms though visual deep learning networks.

[dest]

Uh, are you sure of what you are writing here? Time-frequency analysis (including spectrograms) is one of the very fundamental tools for signal processing.

[ssalazar]

True, i was thinking of a spectrogram as purely a visualization of a time-series of DFTs but Matlab and other tools do not make this distinction.

I was mainly responding to the OP's distinction between analyzing a visual representation and analyzing a "2d array" when they are basically the same thing.

[throwmenow_0140]

> analyzing a visual representation and analyzing a "2d array" when they are basically the same thing.

This is what I mean. I guess their tooling just outputs graphics and it's easier to work with those than the pure 2d array in numpy or something similar.

[jmmcd]

No, the graphics are only being used as part of the explanation. The algorithm is not working with them.