Balancing the scales for music and speech

Abstract

The results of our experiments on the identification and discrimination of musical intervals, along with the results of experiments by other investigators, are interpreted with regard to the possible “natural” basis of musical scales. We have concluded, primarily from basic differences in the perception of intervals by musicians and nonmusicians, that there is little evidence for the existence of “natural” interval categories, either in the sense of being innately determined by characteristics of the auditory processing system, or in the sense of early learning of the relations between partials in natural sounds. In light of the fact that many of the characteristics associated with the perception of speech, e.g., robust categorical perception, adaptation, and dichotic ear advantage, are also evident in the perception of musical intervals, the general question of the relationship between music perception and speech perception is also discussed.