PSYC2274 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Speech Perception, Acoustic Phonetics, Music Therapy
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- Spoken words and musical notes are nothing more than very familiar, complex sounds.
- In other ways, however, music and speech can be distinguished from most other
environmental sounds.
- Created with perceivers in mind → much like visual art!
- Serve to communicate.
- Can convey emotion and deeper meanings.
- No question that the depth and breadth of human communication by music and language
has no rival in the acoustic world…
MUSIC
- Music is used as a way to express yourself and influence the thoughts and emotions of
others.
- This has been done for a VERY long time!
MUSICAL NOTES
A bit of review…
- One of the most important characteristics of any acoustic signal is FREQUENCY.
- Brain structures for processing sounds are tonotopically organized to correspond to
frequency.
Now for the new info…
- Pitch: the psychological aspect of sound related mainly to perceived frequency.
- In other words, it is the psychological quality of perceived frequency.
TONE HEIGHT AND TONE CHROMA
- Octave: the interval between two sound frequencies having a ratio of 2:1.
- When one of two periodic sounds is double the frequency of the other, those two
sounds are one octave apart.
- Something interesting is that C4 and C5 are one octave apart, but they sound a lot more
similar to each other than C4 and D4 do.
- Thus, there is more to musical pitch than just frequency!
- Musical pitch is typically described as having two dimensions.
- 1. Tone height → relates to frequency in a fairly straightforward way.
- A sound quality corresponding to the level of pitch.
- Monotonically related to frequency.
- 2. Tone chroma → a sound quality shared by tones that have the same octave
interval.
CHORDS
- Chords: richer, complex sounds.
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- A combination of three or more musical notes with different pitches played at the
same time.
- The simultaneous playing of 2 notes is called a “dyad.”
- Major distinction between chords: consonant or dissonant.
- Consonant chords: more pleasing!
- Combinations of notes in which the ratios between the note frequencies
are simple.
- The octave (2:1), perfect fifth (3:2), perfect fourth (4:3), etc.
- Dissonant chords: defined by less elegant ratios.
- Ex. minor second (16:15).
- Chords are defined by the ratios of the note frequencies combined to produce them.
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
- Speakers of tone languages use changes in voice pitch (fundamental frequency) to
distinguish different words.
- Language may affect the types of musical scales people use.
- Pitch changes in Asian music are larger and occur more often.
ABSOLUTE PITCH - “perfect pitch”
- Perfect pitch: a rare ability (1 in 10,000) to very accurately name or produce notes
without comparison to other notes (in isolation).
- Seems to run in families…innate?
- Best explanation: it is acquired through experience, but that experience must occur at a
young age.
- Perception of musical notes by adults with AP can be shifted by musical experience…
Sensation and Perception in Everyday Life: Music and Emotion
- Music effects people’s moods and emotions.
- Music therapy is used to improve mental and physical health.
- Music has deep physiological effects.
- Music can promote positive emotions, reduce pain, and alleviate stress, etc.
- Music is a very powerful human invention!!!!!
MAKING MUSIC
- Melody: a sequence of notes or chords perceived as a single coherent structure.
- Defined by its contour → the patterns of rises and declines in pitch.
- In addition to varying pitch, notes and chords vary in duration.
- Tempo: the perceived speed of the presentation of sounds.
- Defined by the average duration of a set of notes in a melody.
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- BUT, if the notes of a given sequence are played with different relative durations, we will
hear completely different melodies.
RHYTHM
- It is in almost everything that we do.
- BUT, listeners are predisposed to grouping sounds into rhythmic patterns.
- Sounds that are longer, louder, and higher in pitch all are more likely to be heard as the
leading member of the group.
- The timing relationship also helps determine accent.
- Ex. Aaa vs. aAa.
- Listeners prefer/expect sequences of notes to be fairly regular.
- Syncopation → any deviation from a regular rhythm.
- Has been used for centuries.
- Syncopation is the perception that beats in the subordinate rhythm have actually traveled
backward or forward in time!
Slight review…
- Rhythm is, in large part, psychological!
- We can produce sounds that are rhythmic and perceived as such.
- But, we can also perceive rhythm where there is none.
MELODY DEVELOPMENT
- Essentially a psychological entity.
- Nothing about a few notes together makes it a melody, save for our experience with
them.
- Our experience of the notes allows for us to perceive them as “Twinkle Twinkle
Little Star.”
SPEECH
- Talkers speak so that they can be understood.
- Humans are capable of producing an incredible range of distinct speech sounds.
- This flexibility arises from the unique structure of the human vocal tract.
- The airway above the larynx used for the production of speech.
- The vocal tract includes the oral tract and nasal tract.
- The human larynx is positioned quite low in the throat, making it much easier for humans
to choke on their food.
- However, the advantage of communication trumps this biological fact.
Speech production
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Document Summary
Spoken words and musical notes are nothing more than very familiar, complex sounds. In other ways, however, music and speech can be distinguished from most other environmental sounds. Created with perceivers in mind much like visual art! No question that the depth and breadth of human communication by music and language has no rival in the acoustic world . Music is used as a way to express yourself and influence the thoughts and emotions of others. This has been done for a very long time! One of the most important characteristics of any acoustic signal is frequency. Brain structures for processing sounds are tonotopically organized to correspond to frequency. Pitch: the psychological aspect of sound related mainly to perceived frequency. In other words, it is the psychological quality of perceived frequency. Octave: the interval between two sound frequencies having a ratio of 2:1.
