Acoustic polarity inversion is clearly audible with certain instruments and styles.

Evidence

Pure tones appear relatively rarely in nature. Only some bird songs and the sounds produced by a flute can be considered to be pure tones. Most of the instrumental sounds in music are composed of a fundamental tone and many harmonics. The difference in timbre produced by different musical instruments depends on the frequency spectra of their harmonics. Whereas a flute produces primarily one single component, the fundamental, a trumpet produces many harmonic partials and therefore elicits a much broader masking effect than a flute. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 449 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Measurable and audible sound qualities can be shown to correlate reliably; Instrument timbre differences stem from harmonic spectra that shape masking breadth — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 449

Broader Connections

• Measurable and audible sound qualities can be shown to correlate reliably #corroborates (0.82)
• Instrument timbre differences stem from harmonic spectra that shape masking breadth #expands (0.75) — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 449