Abstract
To date, tests that measure individual differences in the ability to perceive musical timbre are scarce in the published literature. The lack of such tool limits research on how timbre, a primary attribute of sound, is perceived and processed among individuals. The current paper describes the development of the Timbre Perception Test (TPT), in which participants use a slider to reproduce heard auditory stimuli that vary along three important dimensions of timbre: envelope, spectral flux, and spectral centroid. With a sample of 95 participants, the TPT was calibrated and validated against measures of related abilities and examined for its reliability. The results indicate that a short-version (8 minutes) of the TPT has good explanatory support from a factor analysis model, acceptable internal reliability (α = .69, ωt = .70), good test–retest reliability (r = .79) and substantial correlations with self-reported general musical sophistication (ρ = .63) and pitch discrimination (ρ = .56), as well as somewhat lower correlations with duration discrimination (ρ = .27), and musical instrument discrimination abilities (ρ = .33). Overall, the TPT represents a robust tool to measure an individual’s timbre perception ability. Furthermore, the use of sliders to perform a reproductive task has shown to be an effective approach in threshold testing. The current version of the TPT is openly available for research purposes.
Highlights
Timbre is a primary perceptual attribute of complex sound, alongside pitch and loudness
We present a novel psychoacoustic assessment tool, the Timbre Perception Test (TPT), to fill the gap in the literature and to provide a robust measure that is specific to timbre and its three dimensions
Judging by the absolute distance of participants’ slider position from the target value, the results indicated that the Envelope and Spectral Centroid subtasks were relatively easy compared with the Spectral Flux subtask
Summary
Timbre is a primary perceptual attribute of complex sound, alongside pitch and loudness. Unlike pitch and loudness that are mainly related to a single physical parameter (i.e., frequency and sound intensity), timbre is a multidimensional attribute that arises from complex acoustic properties. It is broadly defined as colour or texture of an instrument (Helmholtz, 1954). Our ability to perceive such qualities from sounds enable us to discriminate a musical piece played by a buzzy trumpet from the same piece played by a mellow flute, even when both instruments are equal in loudness, tempo, and pitch (American National Standards Institute, 1994). Notwithstanding its importance, timbre remains a relatively poorly understood auditory attribute, presumably due to its multidimensional and complicated nature being a challenge in psychological timbre research
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