Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/231915

Title

The effect of timbre and loudness on melody segregation

Author(s)

Marozeau, Jeremy;  Innes-Brown, Hamish;  Blamey, Peter J.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of three acoustic parameters on the difficulty of segregating a simple 4-note melody from a background of interleaved distractor notes. Melody segregation difficulty ratings were recorded while three acoustic parameters of the distractor notes were varied separately: intensity, temporal envelope, and spectral envelope. Statistical analyses revealed a significant effect of music training on difficulty rating judgments. For participants with music training, loudness was the most efficient perceptual cue, and no difference was found between the dimensions of timbre influenced by temporal and spectral envelope. For the group of listeners with less music training, both loudness and spectral envelope were the most efficient cues. We speculate that the difference between musicians and nonmusicians may be due to differences in processing the stimuli: musicians may process harmonic sound sequences using brain networks specialized for music, whereas nonmusicians may use speech networks.

Publication type

Journal article

Source

Music Perception, Vol. 30, no. 3 (Feb 2013), pp. 259-274

Publication year

2013

FOR Code(s)

1701 Psychology;  1702 Cognitive Sciences;  1904 Performing Arts and Creative Writing

Keyword(s)

Loudness;  Melody;  Music perception;  Timbre

Publisher

University of California Press

ISSN

0730-7829

Publisher URL

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/mp.2012.30.issue-3

Copyright

Copyright © 2013 by the regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Peer reviewed