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—distortional, distortionary, adj./di stawr"sheuhn/, n.1. an act or instance of distorting.2. the state of being distorted or the relative degree or amount by which something is distorted or distorts.3. anything that is distorted, as a sound, image, fact, etc.4. Optics. an aberration of a lens or system of lenses in which the magnification of the object varies with the lateral distance from the axis of the lens. Cf. barrel distortion, pincushion distortion.[1575-85; < L distortion- (s. of distortio). See DISTORT, -ION]
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in acoustics and electronics, any change in a signal that alters the basic waveform or the relationship between various frequency components; it is usually a degradation of the signal. Straight amplification or attenuation without alteration of the waveform is not usually considered to be distortion. Amplitude distortion refers to unequal amplification or attenuation of the various frequency components of the signal, and phase distortion refers to changes in the phase relationships between harmonic components of a complex wave. Intermodulation distortion is a result of nonlinearities in the system such that one frequency component tends to modulate another frequency component—e.g., a high audio frequency modulating a low audio frequency. In audio systems, the most noticeable types of distortion are amplitude, frequency, and intermodulation. In video systems, appreciable distortion of any kind may be observed as a degradation of the reproduced image. Noise added to a signal, either purposely or inadvertently, is sometimes referred to as distortion.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
