The effect of timbre and loudness on melody segregation
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Date
2013-02
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
the Regents of the University of California.
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 para- meters 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 dif- ference 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.
Description
Keywords
Auditory Stream Segregation, Psychophysics, Music Training, Cochlear Implants, Hearing Impairment
Citation
Marozeau, J. M., Innes-Brown, H., & Blamey, P. J. (2013). The effect of timbre and loudness on melody segregation. Music Perception, 30(3), 259-274.