Perceiving and encoding timbre.

Abstract

Interactions with the auditory environment often require accurate recognition of sound objects and events (e.g., voices and instruments, and the utterances that emanate from them). Two lines of research in the lab have been exploring how listeners process the auditory dimension of timbre as one step toward understanding object recognition. In one, commonalties in processing different classes of timbres (human voices, musical instruments) using the selective adaptation paradigm are explored. In the second, the characteristics of timbre memory using the interpolated tone paradigm are examined [Deutsch, Science 168, 1604–1605]. Findings will be discussed in the context of similar results in the literature.