Analyzing Timbres of Various Musical Instruments Using FFT and Spectral Analysis

A sound’s unique timbre is based on the various harmonic frequencies present within its waveform. Through Fast Fourier Transform software, waveforms can be easily decomposed into their component frequencies and a spectral analysis of frequency can be conducted as a method of quantitatively describing timbral characteristics of a sound. In this investigation, the range of frequencies present in a spectrum as well as the average intensity of the first 10 overtones in a sound will be used to classify the timbres of various instruments relative to one another. This will be done by generating a Range-Intensity graph of harmonic frequencies present in sound samples of each instrument. The results of this investigation reveal that it is not only possible to quantitatively analyze instrumental timbre by generating and mapping out the harmonic frequency data of a specific sound, but that such a quantitative analysis is also incredibly useful. Unlike the traditional, qualitative method of describing timbre, a quantitative analysis would allow for timbral qualities to be transformed into information that can be understood by computers. Today, timbral classification and the decomposition of waveforms has many applications in science and sound engineering. By refining methods for quantitative timbral analysis, it becomes possible to further enhance timbre recognition software and apply such methods to a wider range of technological developments.

Music Perception and Speech-in-Noise Skills of Typical Hearing and Cochlear Implant Listeners

Purpose Adult cochlear implant (CI) users rate music as one of the most important auditory stimuli, second to speech perception. However, few studies simultaneously examine music perception and speech-in-noise perception in adult CI recipients. This study explores the effect of auditory status on music perception and speech-in-noise perception recognition in noise as well as the relationship among music engagement, music perception, and speech-in-noise perception. Method Participants include 10 adults with typical hearing (TH) and 10 adults with long-term CI use. All participants completed the Music-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire, which assesses subjective music experiences and their importance; the Pitch Direction Discrimination, Familiar Melody Recognition, and Timbre Recognition subtests of the Clinical Assessment of Music Perception for Cochlear Implants; the Unfamiliar Melody Recognition subtest of the Profile of Music Perception Skills; and the Bamford–Kowal–Bench Speech-in-Noise Test . Results The TH group significantly outperformed the CI group for speech-in-noise perception and on all four music perception tasks. The CI group exhibited not only significantly poorer mean scores but also greater variability in performance compared to the TH group. Only Familiar Melody Recognition and Unfamiliar Melody Recognition subtests significantly correlated with speech-in-noise scores. Conclusions Patients and professionals should not assume speech perception and music perception in adult CI users derive from the same auditory or cognitive foundations. The lack of significant relationships among music engagement, music perception, and speech-in-noise perception scores in adult CI users suggests this population enjoys music despite poor and variable performance in discrete music tasks.

Short-term Recognition of Timbre Sequences

The goal of the current study was to explore outstanding questions in the field of timbre perception and cognition—specifically, whether memory for timbre is better in trained musicians or in nonmusicians, whether short-term timbre recognition is invariant to pitch differences, and whether timbre dissimilarity influences timbre recognition performance. Four experiments examined short-term recognition of musical timbre using a serial recognition task in which listeners indicated whether the orders of the timbres of two subsequently presented sound sequences were identical or not. Experiment 1 revealed significant effects of sequence length on recognition accuracy and an interaction of music training and pitch variability: musicians performed better for variable-pitch sequences, but did not differ from nonmusicians with constant-pitch sequences. Experiment 2 yielded a significant effect of pitch variability for musicians when pitch patterns varied between standard and comparison sequences. Experiment 3 high-lighted the impact of the timbral dissimilarity of swapped sounds and indicated a recency effect in timbre recognition. Experiment 4 confirmed the importance of the dissimilarity of the swap, but did not yield any pertinent role of timbral heterogeneity of the sequence. Further analyses confirmed the strong correlation of the timbral dissimilarity of swapped sounds with response behavior, accounting for around 90% of the variance in response choices across all four experiments. These results extend findings regarding the impact of music training and pitch variability from the literature on timbre perception to the domain of short-term memory and demonstrate the mnemonic importance of timbre similarity relations among sounds in sequences. The role of the factors of music training, pitch variability, and timbral similarity in music listening is discussed.