Some new pitch paradoxes and their implications

1992 ◽  
Vol 336 (1278) ◽  
pp. 391-397 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Spectral Envelope ◽  
Pitch Class ◽  
Speech Characteristics ◽  
Class C ◽  
Tritone Paradox ◽  
Sound Patterns ◽  
The Way

This paper explores two new paradoxical sound patterns. The tones used to produce these patterns consist of six octave-related harmonics, whose amplitudes are scaled by a bell-shaped spectral envelope; these tones are clearly defined in terms of pitch class (C, C#, D, and so on) but are poorly defined in term s of height. One pattern consists of two tones that are separated by a half-octave. It is heard as ascending when played in one key, yet as descending when played in a different key. Further, when the pattern is played in any one key it is heard as ascending by some listeners but as descending by others (the tritone paradox). Another pattern that consists of simultaneous pairs of tones displays related properties (the semitone paradox). It is shown that the way the tritone paradox is perceived correlates with the speech characteristics of the listener, including his or her linguistic dialect. The findings suggest that the same, culturally acquired representation of pitch classes influences both speech production and also perception of this musical pattern.

The Tritone Paradox: Correlate with the Listener's Vocal Range for Speech

1990 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Deutsch ◽  
Tom North ◽  
Lee Ray
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
The Other ◽  
Spectral Envelope ◽  
Pitch Class ◽  
Fundamental Frequencies ◽  
Speech Characteristics ◽  
Orderly Fashion ◽  
Tritone Paradox ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

In the tritone paradox, two tones are presented that are related by a halfoctave. Each tone consists of a set of octave-related sinusoids whose amplitudes are scaled by a bell-shaped spectral envelope; thus the usual cues to height attribution are missing. When listeners judge whether such tone pairs form ascending or descending patterns, judgments are related in an orderly fashion to the positions of the tones along the pitch class circle: Tones in one region of the circle are heard as higher and those in the opposite region as lower. However, listeners differ strikingly in the orientation of the pitch-class circle with respect to height. So far, the basis of the tritone paradox and the reasons for the individual differences in its manifestation have proved elusive. In the present study, a correlation is found between perception of the tritone paradox and the range of fundamental frequencies of the listener's speaking voice. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a close connection between the perception of a musical pattern on the one hand and the listener's speech characteristics on the other.

Spectral Envelope and Context Effects in the Tritone Paradox

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 645-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno H Repp
Keyword(s):  
Context Effects ◽  
Spectral Envelope ◽  
Center Frequency ◽  
Pitch Class ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Complex Tones ◽  
Preceding Context ◽  
Tritone Paradox ◽  
Context Free

In previous studies of the ‘tritone paradox’ Deutsch has suggested that, when listeners are presented with pairs of octave-complex tones that are equal in average log frequency but differ in chroma by 6 semitones (a tritone), they perceive the direction of the chroma difference according to an individual pitch-class template. However, it has also been found that the perceived direction changes for many listeners when the spectral envelope of the tones is shifted along the frequency axis. Reanalysis of these data indicates a strong tendency to perceive the pitch class corresponding to the frequency on which the spectral envelope is centered as subjectively lowest. In experiment 1 this spectral-envelope effect was replicated with tone pairs presented in isolation, at the rate of one a day, which rules out artifacts of test format. In experiment 2, involving another context-free format, envelope center frequency was varied over a wide range and it was shown that some individuals are totally envelope dependent, whereas others rely more on pitch class, and yet others show mixed patterns. Experiment 3 demonstrated that listeners' judgments of tritone pairs can be swayed easily by preceding context. Finally, experiment 4 showed that strong envelope effects are also obtained with Deutsch's own tritone test (issued on CD). The subjective relative pitch height of octave-complex tones thus depends on several competing factors, only one of which is pitch class.

The Tritone Paradox: Effects of Pitch Class and Position of the Spectral Envelope

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice Giangrande
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
The United States ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Spectral Envelope ◽  
Geographical Differences ◽  
Interesting Issue ◽  
Pitch Class ◽  
Tritone Paradox

The tritone paradox reveals compelling individual differences in the orientation of the pitch class circle derived from judgments of tritone pairs. Some subjects perceive tones in one half of the pitch class circle as higher than tones in the opposite half, whereas other subjects produce the converse pattern. Because geographical differences in perception of the tritone paradox have been found, an interesting issue concerns how subjects in additional regions of the United States may perceive the tritone paradox. A second issue of interest concerns the extent to which the position of the spectral envelope affects how the pattern is perceived. These issues are here addressed in a study of the tritone paradox in a group of subjects from South Florida. With respect to the first issue, the overall histogram of peak pitch classes produced by the subjects from South Florida was similar to the histogram found among Californian subjects. To address the second issue, tone pairs were generated under four spectral envelopes spaced at half-octave intervals. The majority of subjects evidenced differences in peak pitch class of no more than 2 semitones when judgments under each of the four spectral envelopes were compared.

The Tritone Paradox: An Influence of Language on Music Perception

1991 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Deutsch
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
The Other ◽  
Spectral Envelope ◽  
Pitch Range ◽  
Pitch Class ◽  
Systematic Relationships ◽  
Tritone Paradox ◽  
The Individual ◽  
English Group

The tritone paradox is produced when two tones that are related by a half- octave (or tritone) are presented in succession. Each tone is composed of a set of octave- related harmonics, whose amplitudes are determined by a bell-shaped spectral envelope; thus the tones are clearly defined in terms of pitch class, but poorly defined in terms of height. When listeners judge whether such tone pairs form ascending or descending patterns, their judgments generally show systematic relationships to the positions of the tones along the pitch-class circle: Tones in one region of the circle are heard as higher and those in the opposite region are heard as lower. However, listeners disagree substantially as to whether a given tone pair forms an ascending or a descending pattern, and therefore as to which tones are heard as higher and which as lower. This paper demonstrates that the basis for the individual differences in perception of this musical pattern lies in the language spoken by the listener. Two groups of subjects made judgments of the tritone paradox. One group had grown up in California, and the other group had grown up in southern England. It was found that when the Californian group tended to hear the pattern as ascending the English group tended to hear it as descending, and when the Californian group tended to hear the pattern as descending the English group tended to hear it as ascending. This finding, coupled with the earlier results of Deutsch, North, and Ray (1990) that showed a correlate between perception of the tritone paradox and the pitch range of the listener's spontaneous speaking voice, indicates strongly that the same, culturally acquired representation of pitch classes influences both speech production and perception of this musical pattern.

The Pitch of Speech as a Function of Linguistic Community

1994 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Dolson
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Internal Representation ◽  
Linguistic Community ◽  
Pitch Height ◽  
Pitch Range ◽  
Pitch Class ◽  
Musical Patterns ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Speaking Voice ◽  
Tritone Paradox

A recent series of experiments by Deutsch and co-workers has investigated the perception of musical patterns in which the tones are well defined in terms of pitch class, but poorly defined in terms of pitch height. One of these patterns is known as the "tritone paradox." It has been found that listeners' differing perceptions are significantly correlated both with the linguistic community in which the listener grew up and with the pitch range of the listener's spontaneous speaking voice. To explain these findings, Deutsch has hypothesized that listeners acquire an internal representation of pitch classes based on the prevailing pitch range of speech in their linguistic community and that this representation influences both their perception of the tritone paradox and their speech production. The present paper examines this hypothesis in the light of available data about the pitch of speech as a function of linguistic community. It is concluded that these data are surprisingly consistent with Deutsch's hypothesis.

scholarly journals Phonotactic probabilities in young children's speech production

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 515-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
TANIA S. ZAMUNER ◽  
LOUANN GERKEN ◽  
MICHAEL HAMMOND
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Phonotactic Probability ◽  
Ambient Language ◽  
Sound Patterns ◽  
Children's Speech

This research explores the role of phonotactic probability in two-year-olds' production of coda consonants. Twenty-nine children were asked to repeat CVC non-words that were used as labels for pictures of imaginary animals. The CVC non-words were controlled for their phonotactic probabilities, neighbourhood densities, word-likelihood ratings, and contained the identical coda across low and high phonotactic probability pairs. This allowed for comparisons of children's productions of the same coda consonant in low and high phonotactic probability environments. Children were significantly more likely to produce the same coda in high phonotactic probability non-words than in low phonotactic probability non-words. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that phonotactic probability is a predictor of coda production in English. Moreover, this finding provides further evidence for the role of the input and distribution of sound patterns in the ambient language as a basis for phonological acquisition.

Postcards from the mind

Gesture ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Peter de Ruiter
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Interprocess Communication ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Single Process ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Processing Architectures ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

In this paper, I compare three different assumptions about the relationship between speech, thought and gesture. These assumptions have profound consequences for theories about the representations and processing involved in gesture and speech production. I associate these assumptions with three simplified processing architectures. In the Window Architecture, gesture provides us with a ‘window into the mind’. In the Language Architecture, properties of language have an influence on gesture. In the Postcard Architecture, gesture and speech are planned by a single process to become one multimodal message. The popular Window Architecture is based on the assumption that gestures come, as it were, straight out of the mind. I argue that during the creation of overt imagistic gestures, many processes, especially those related to (a) recipient design, and (b) effects of language structure, cause an observable gesture to be very different from the original thought that it expresses. The Language Architecture and the Postcard Architecture differ from the Window Architecture in that they both incorporate a central component which plans gesture and speech together, however they differ from each other in the way they align gesture and speech. The Postcard Architecture assumes that the process creating a multimodal message involving both gesture and speech has access to the concepts that are available in speech, while the Language Architecture relies on interprocess communication to resolve potential conflicts between the content of gesture and speech.

Designing a model developed to assess the capabilities of technological innovation in Iranian construction of power plant equipment industries

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 1241-1249
Author(s):  
Abbas Khamseh ◽  
Parisa Marei
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Technological Capabilities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Power Plant Equipment ◽  
Plant Equipment ◽  
Class C ◽  
Capability Level ◽  
The Way

Purpose In this research, we investigate the capability level of technological construction for power plant equipment industries in Iran based on the development of a domestic model. In which we identify the strengths and weaknesses of technological capabilities and work to improve them. Design/methodology/approach In this research, we investigate the capability level of technological construction for power plant equipment industries in Iran based on the development of a domestic model. In this study, more than 80 industry experts have filled the questionnaire that was designed based on the AHP method to measure the technological level of the industry. The result has shown the overall technology level about 63.26%. Based on this investigation, the technical capability in this industry is in the “C” class. However, the strategic, R&D and innovation capabilities of the industry have ranked the highest in the dimensions of technological capabilities. Findings Because overall level of technological innovation capabilities in the industry is 63.50%, construction of power plant equipment industries in Iran is among the industries that are on the way to being strategic or class C industries. Industries in class C (strategic class) have proper insight into the way of promoting their technological capabilities. They are highly ability in project implementation and a strategic view of capability-building. Owing to a transparent priority attitude, these industries are able to formulate strategies and increase their internal capabilities in management and technical areas. Although industries in class C are able to react to new environment-orientated technological regulations quickly and effectively, they need a new policy for increasing innovation in leadership sections, and they need better access to capital and service goods. Class C industries take advantage of strategic awareness focused on the latest technologies required for mid and long term, and they need the support of other industries and institutions for development of technology among small- and medium-scale and other less-developed industries. These industries transcend technological boundaries in most areas and are able to turn into class D (innovative and creative) industries gradually. To this end, considering the ranking, strategic and R&D capabilities, as well as learning and innovation capabilities, rank the highest among other aspects of technological innovation capabilities for industries. Thus, the improvement projects of industries should be of a higher priority and implemented quickly. Originality/value This article can be used as a model developed for technology-based companies in the field of power plant and energy supply in developing countries.

Revision of Terhardt's Psychoacoustical Model of the Root(s) of a Musical Chord

1988 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Parncutt
Keyword(s):  
Music Theory ◽  
Generalized Model ◽  
New Model ◽  
Pitch Class ◽  
Absolute Value ◽  
Class C

The predictions of Terhardt's octave-generalized model of the root of a musical chord occasionally disagree with music theory (notably, in the case of the minor triad). The model is improved by assigning appropriate weights to the intervals used in the model's "subharmonic matching" routine. These intervals, called "root-supports," include the P8 (unison), P5, M3, m7, M9 (M2), and m3. The new model calculates the salience of each pitch class (C, C#/Db..B) as an absolute value. The most likely candidate for the root of a chord corresponds to the most salient pitch class in all cases where the root is unambiguously defined in music theory. The model also calculates a "root ambiguity" value for each chord, a measure of its dissonance. Effects of voicing (inversion, spacing, and doubling) and context on the root are considered.

Showing structure

Pragmatics ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Rendle-Short
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
And Function ◽  
Role And Function ◽  
The Way

Um and uh are generally considered to be indicative of dysfluency and uncertainty in speech production. However, analysis of the academic seminar indicates that the distribution of um and uh is not random. In specific well-defined environments um is used to indicate the underlying structure of the talk. Although Swerts (1998) has already suggested that fillers such as um and uh could be treated as discourse markers in Dutch, the notion that such tokens are functioning as discourse markers has not been developed in detail. This paper analyses the role played by um in a series of computer science seminars. Using traditional conversation analysis techniques, the paper focuses on the way in which um indicates structure in the academic seminar by maintaining coherence across bits of talk. It thus argues that in specific well-defined environments um functions as a discourse marker. This paper therefore addresses such issues as the role and function of um in seminar talk, the environments in which it occurs, and its use in indicating the structure of the talk to the listening audience.

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