Timbre discrimination in musical patterns

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Abstract
Timbre discrimination of isolated tones was compared with discrimination in various musical contexts, both single-voiced and multivoiced. Different contexts were used (4 isolated tonal comparisons, 4 single-voice musical patterns, and 4 multivoice patterns). Listeners judged whether the tibre remained the same or changed during the trial. Two possible versions of any instrumental timbre differed in the physical information used in their synthesis. Three instrumental timbres were tested in all contexts: clarinet, trumpet and bassoon. The effects of context upon discrimination varied across instruments. The clarinet and trumpet versions were best discriminated in isolated contexts, with discrimination progressively worse in single-voice and multivoice patterns. The bassoon versions were best discriminated in the single-voice patterns, with equal discrimination in the isolated and multivoice cases. These results were due to pronounced physical differences observed between the spectra of the 2 versions of the bassoon that were not apparent between the versions of the clarinet or trumpet.

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