Cargando…

Acoustic and Categorical Dissimilarity of Musical Timbre: Evidence from Asymmetries Between Acoustic and Chimeric Sounds

This paper investigates the role of acoustic and categorical information in timbre dissimilarity ratings. Using a Gammatone-filterbank-based sound transformation, we created tones that were rated as less familiar than recorded tones from orchestral instruments and that were harder to associate with...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Siedenburg, Kai, Jones-Mollerup, Kiray, McAdams, Stephen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4700179/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26779086
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01977
_version_ 1782408290019311616
author Siedenburg, Kai
Jones-Mollerup, Kiray
McAdams, Stephen
author_facet Siedenburg, Kai
Jones-Mollerup, Kiray
McAdams, Stephen
author_sort Siedenburg, Kai
collection PubMed
description This paper investigates the role of acoustic and categorical information in timbre dissimilarity ratings. Using a Gammatone-filterbank-based sound transformation, we created tones that were rated as less familiar than recorded tones from orchestral instruments and that were harder to associate with an unambiguous sound source (Experiment 1). A subset of transformed tones, a set of orchestral recordings, and a mixed set were then rated on pairwise dissimilarity (Experiment 2A). We observed that recorded instrument timbres clustered into subsets that distinguished timbres according to acoustic and categorical properties. For the subset of cross-category comparisons in the mixed set, we observed asymmetries in the distribution of ratings, as well as a stark decay of inter-rater agreement. These effects were replicated in a more robust within-subjects design (Experiment 2B) and cannot be explained by acoustic factors alone. We finally introduced a novel model of timbre dissimilarity based on partial least-squares regression that compared the contributions of both acoustic and categorical timbre descriptors. The best model fit (R(2) = 0.88) was achieved when both types of descriptors were taken into account. These findings are interpreted as evidence for an interplay of acoustic and categorical information in timbre dissimilarity perception.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4700179
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-47001792016-01-15 Acoustic and Categorical Dissimilarity of Musical Timbre: Evidence from Asymmetries Between Acoustic and Chimeric Sounds Siedenburg, Kai Jones-Mollerup, Kiray McAdams, Stephen Front Psychol Psychology This paper investigates the role of acoustic and categorical information in timbre dissimilarity ratings. Using a Gammatone-filterbank-based sound transformation, we created tones that were rated as less familiar than recorded tones from orchestral instruments and that were harder to associate with an unambiguous sound source (Experiment 1). A subset of transformed tones, a set of orchestral recordings, and a mixed set were then rated on pairwise dissimilarity (Experiment 2A). We observed that recorded instrument timbres clustered into subsets that distinguished timbres according to acoustic and categorical properties. For the subset of cross-category comparisons in the mixed set, we observed asymmetries in the distribution of ratings, as well as a stark decay of inter-rater agreement. These effects were replicated in a more robust within-subjects design (Experiment 2B) and cannot be explained by acoustic factors alone. We finally introduced a novel model of timbre dissimilarity based on partial least-squares regression that compared the contributions of both acoustic and categorical timbre descriptors. The best model fit (R(2) = 0.88) was achieved when both types of descriptors were taken into account. These findings are interpreted as evidence for an interplay of acoustic and categorical information in timbre dissimilarity perception. Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-01-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4700179/ /pubmed/26779086 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01977 Text en Copyright © 2016 Siedenburg, Jones-Mollerup and McAdams. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Siedenburg, Kai
Jones-Mollerup, Kiray
McAdams, Stephen
Acoustic and Categorical Dissimilarity of Musical Timbre: Evidence from Asymmetries Between Acoustic and Chimeric Sounds
title Acoustic and Categorical Dissimilarity of Musical Timbre: Evidence from Asymmetries Between Acoustic and Chimeric Sounds
title_full Acoustic and Categorical Dissimilarity of Musical Timbre: Evidence from Asymmetries Between Acoustic and Chimeric Sounds
title_fullStr Acoustic and Categorical Dissimilarity of Musical Timbre: Evidence from Asymmetries Between Acoustic and Chimeric Sounds
title_full_unstemmed Acoustic and Categorical Dissimilarity of Musical Timbre: Evidence from Asymmetries Between Acoustic and Chimeric Sounds
title_short Acoustic and Categorical Dissimilarity of Musical Timbre: Evidence from Asymmetries Between Acoustic and Chimeric Sounds
title_sort acoustic and categorical dissimilarity of musical timbre: evidence from asymmetries between acoustic and chimeric sounds
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4700179/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26779086
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01977
work_keys_str_mv AT siedenburgkai acousticandcategoricaldissimilarityofmusicaltimbreevidencefromasymmetriesbetweenacousticandchimericsounds
AT jonesmollerupkiray acousticandcategoricaldissimilarityofmusicaltimbreevidencefromasymmetriesbetweenacousticandchimericsounds
AT mcadamsstephen acousticandcategoricaldissimilarityofmusicaltimbreevidencefromasymmetriesbetweenacousticandchimericsounds