Timbral effects on consonance disentangle psychoacoustic mechanisms and suggest perceptual origins for musical scales
Abstract The phenomenon of musical consonance is an essential feature in diverse musical styles. The traditional belief, supported by centuries of Western music theory and psychological studies, is that consonance derives from simple (harmonic) frequency ratios between tones and is insensitive to ti...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45812-z |
| _version_ | 1797273940076265472 |
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| author | Raja Marjieh Peter M. C. Harrison Harin Lee Fotini Deligiannaki Nori Jacoby |
| author_facet | Raja Marjieh Peter M. C. Harrison Harin Lee Fotini Deligiannaki Nori Jacoby |
| author_sort | Raja Marjieh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The phenomenon of musical consonance is an essential feature in diverse musical styles. The traditional belief, supported by centuries of Western music theory and psychological studies, is that consonance derives from simple (harmonic) frequency ratios between tones and is insensitive to timbre. Here we show through five large-scale behavioral studies, comprising 235,440 human judgments from US and South Korean populations, that harmonic consonance preferences can be reshaped by timbral manipulations, even as far as to induce preferences for inharmonic intervals. We show how such effects may suggest perceptual origins for diverse scale systems ranging from the gamelan’s slendro scale to the tuning of Western mean-tone and equal-tempered scales. Through computational modeling we show that these timbral manipulations dissociate competing psychoacoustic mechanisms underlying consonance, and we derive an updated computational model combining liking of harmonicity, disliking of fast beats (roughness), and liking of slow beats. Altogether, this work showcases how large-scale behavioral experiments can inform classical questions in auditory perception. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:51:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-343c8d29c941406ca94b8fabe164e33c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:51:18Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-343c8d29c941406ca94b8fabe164e33c2024-03-05T19:41:29ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-02-0115112210.1038/s41467-024-45812-zTimbral effects on consonance disentangle psychoacoustic mechanisms and suggest perceptual origins for musical scalesRaja Marjieh0Peter M. C. Harrison1Harin Lee2Fotini Deligiannaki3Nori Jacoby4Department of Psychology, Princeton UniversityMax Planck Institute for Empirical AestheticsMax Planck Institute for Empirical AestheticsMax Planck Institute for Empirical AestheticsMax Planck Institute for Empirical AestheticsAbstract The phenomenon of musical consonance is an essential feature in diverse musical styles. The traditional belief, supported by centuries of Western music theory and psychological studies, is that consonance derives from simple (harmonic) frequency ratios between tones and is insensitive to timbre. Here we show through five large-scale behavioral studies, comprising 235,440 human judgments from US and South Korean populations, that harmonic consonance preferences can be reshaped by timbral manipulations, even as far as to induce preferences for inharmonic intervals. We show how such effects may suggest perceptual origins for diverse scale systems ranging from the gamelan’s slendro scale to the tuning of Western mean-tone and equal-tempered scales. Through computational modeling we show that these timbral manipulations dissociate competing psychoacoustic mechanisms underlying consonance, and we derive an updated computational model combining liking of harmonicity, disliking of fast beats (roughness), and liking of slow beats. Altogether, this work showcases how large-scale behavioral experiments can inform classical questions in auditory perception.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45812-z |
| spellingShingle | Raja Marjieh Peter M. C. Harrison Harin Lee Fotini Deligiannaki Nori Jacoby Timbral effects on consonance disentangle psychoacoustic mechanisms and suggest perceptual origins for musical scales Nature Communications |
| title | Timbral effects on consonance disentangle psychoacoustic mechanisms and suggest perceptual origins for musical scales |
| title_full | Timbral effects on consonance disentangle psychoacoustic mechanisms and suggest perceptual origins for musical scales |
| title_fullStr | Timbral effects on consonance disentangle psychoacoustic mechanisms and suggest perceptual origins for musical scales |
| title_full_unstemmed | Timbral effects on consonance disentangle psychoacoustic mechanisms and suggest perceptual origins for musical scales |
| title_short | Timbral effects on consonance disentangle psychoacoustic mechanisms and suggest perceptual origins for musical scales |
| title_sort | timbral effects on consonance disentangle psychoacoustic mechanisms and suggest perceptual origins for musical scales |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45812-z |
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