The psychomechanics of real and simulated sound sources

Abstract

Recent advances in the physical acoustics of musical instruments and the development of physically based signal-processing models have opened a new path to the psychological investigation of sound-source perception. In particular, it is now possible to rigorously and systematically study the perceptual results of changes in physical properties that affect the mechanics of a musical instrument. As a first step in this direction, experiments from several laboratories have been conducted on the recognition and classification of sounds produced by real percussive instruments (bars and plates). These results show a surprising sensitivity to geometric properties. However, this sensitivity depends on the materials composing the sources and on the kinds of judgments listeners have to make. Other experiments have been performed on the perceptual dissimilarities among sounds produced by physical models of bars and plates whose material properties such as density, damping, and elasticity are varied. The results also show a very strong sensitivity of listeners to these latter mechanical dimensions, with the relevant perceptual dimensions often being transformations of the mechanical ones. The scope of the psychoacoustics of sound signals appears to be widening to include what might be called the ‘‘psychomechanics’’ of sound sources.