Multidimensional scaling maps perceived timbre differences between instruments

Evidence

Researchers have attempted to identify relationships between particular features in the outputs from acoustic musical instruments and their perceived timbre. A significant experiment in this field was conducted by Grey (1977). Listeners were asked to rate the similarity between recordings of pairs of synthesized musical instruments on a numerical scale from 1 to 30. All sounds were equalized in pitch, loudness and duration. The results were analyzed by “multidimensional scaling,” which is a computational technique that places the instruments in relation to each other in a multidimensional space based on the similarity ratings given by listeners. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1482

Researchers have attempted to identify relationships between particular features in the outputs from acoustic musical instruments and their per­ ceived timbre. A significant experiment in this field was conducted by Grey (1977). Listeners were asked to rate the similarity between recordings of pairs of synthesized musical instruments on a numerical scale from 1 to 30. All sounds were equalized in pitch, loudness and duration. The results were analyzed by “multidimensional scaling” which is a computational technique that places the instruments in relation to each other in a multi­ dimensional space based on the similarity ratings given by listeners. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1506

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines multidimensional scaling as a computational placement of stimuli in a similarity-based space.
• XREF: Connects to psychoacoustics’ broader method of holding pitch, loudness, and duration constant to isolate one perceptual dimension. — connects to: Sensory science quantifies perceptual attributes through structured descriptive analysis; Multidimensional scaling reveals dissimilarity structures without labeling perceived attributes; Measurement research aims to map objective data onto subjective sound quality ratings (+3 more)
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1482; David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1506