Musical context and attack envelope shape chord pitch perception

Evidence

Recording a single piano chord and later rather clinically playing a sound bite back to a listener, out of context, with no attack or finish, could result in a quite different impression of the sound, compared to listening to the same chord during a piano recital. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2095

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• XREF: Connects to the chapter’s broader theme that perception is ear-brain construction, echoing earlier chapters on how auditory processing depends on context.

Related

• Perceived pitch depends on listening context, not just the physical spectrum present. (similarity 0.81)
• Whether a sound parses into separate notes is decided by perception, not physics (similarity 0.80)
• Temporal envelope alone, not spectral content, determines much of perceived timbre. (similarity 0.79)
• Pitch differences enable selective listening to one talker amid competing voices (similarity 0.78)
• Pitch depends only on spectrum and periodicity, not volume or direction. (similarity 0.78)