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Pitch center of frequency modulated musical sounds
Judith C. Brown
Physics Department, Wellesley College,
Wellesley, Massachusetts, 01281 and
Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139
email: brown@media-lab.mit.edu
and
Kathryn V. Vaughn
Media Lab, MIT
Cambridge, MA, 02139
Received:
PACS 43.66.Hg, 43.75.Cd, 43.75.Bc
Abstract:
The determination of the pitch center of frequency modulated sounds has been the focus of a number of previous
studies. The sources have usually been pure tones or synthetic
complex sounds with a well-defined spectral composition. These synthetic sounds differ in temporal and spectral
properties from the sounds produced by musical instruments;
and it is these acoustic sounds which performers are trained to produce and
to perceive in order to make intonation choices. We have thus chosen
samples for our study consisting of approximately 1 s of acoustic
sounds produced by a virtuoso violist playing the notes
,
#,
, and
with and without vibrato. The sounds without vibrato were then
resampled to give frequencies from -15 to +21 cents with respect to
the mean of the sound with vibrato.
Two alternative forced choice experiments were carried out using two sets of
musically experienced listeners as subjects.
A control set
consisting of the comparison of pitch levels of
the unmodulated sounds was carried out simultaneously. Results are consistent with the finding that the
pitch perceived is that of the mean. The difference limen
inferred from the control set was 6 cents for the first group and 4.5 cents
for the second group with an upper bound on the error of 2 cents.
Brown and Vaughn, J.Acoust.Soc.Am.