In audio, we pretend such testing would be impossible to conduct. ..nonsense.
I think you'll find a number of manufacturers do blind testing on their own. Pass does. Magnepan does. Van Alstine does. Harman does. Many do. It's how they determine whether a change is truly better. The end result is whether or not customers choose their products over their competitors.
The challenge, however, is that blind testing in medicinal trials bears no resemblance to audio DBTs for a number of reasons:
1. In medicine the training, experience and test-taking abilities of the subjects do NOT affect the results of the test.
In audio they all DO. So it is as much of a test of the listeners than differences between the components alone. Harman, for example, trains their speaker evaluators who use the "shuffler". In a world of imperfection, preference continues to play a big part. Are your preferences the same as trained listeners who consistently observe differences?
2. In medicine, the participants
don't compare anything. There are administered either the the control or a
placebo.
In audio, however, one must make a forced choice between two different DUT.
3. In medicine the tests have been scientifically validated for this use.
In
blind audio component comparisons, there has been NO validation. The sensitivity of the tests for different sonic parameters has not been determined. That's because the sensitivity changes with each subject (see #1).
I was fortunate to have two mentors from an early age who exposed me to a wide range of gear and taught me about music appreciation. And yet, my gear preferences are different from either one. Each of us hears the same thing - its how we prioritize those results that differs and part of that has to do with the music we like most.