intermodulation distortion
Quick Summary
Intermodulation distortion occurs in electronic systems when nonlinearities cause one frequency component to modulate another. This results in new, unwanted frequencies that alter the original signal's waveform.1
In audio systems, intermodulation distortion is one of the most noticeable types of signal degradation, alongside amplitude and frequency distortion. While negative feedback can help mitigate distortion in audio amplifiers, radio-frequency amplifiers can experience cross-modulation, where two information channels mix if an unwanted signal enters the input alongside the desired one. This mixing of frequencies is a form of distortion that can degrade the overall signal quality.12
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