Musical intervals between adjacent harmonics shrink as harmonic number rises

Evidence

The dissonance of the chord in each case is related to the entries in the final column, which indicate increased dissonance in the order C, c, d and D; it can be seen that the dissonance increases as the harmonic number increases and the musical interval decreases. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 998 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Notes lacking reinforced upper harmonics play wobbly and degraded; String length ratios explain musical intervals since Pythagoras; Musical scales universally favor intervals with small integer frequency ratios (+8 more)

Related

• Chord dissonance rises as harmonic number increases and interval shrinks (similarity 0.93)
• Interval dissonance increases with position higher in the harmonic series (similarity 0.89)
• Chord consonance is maximized when singers’ fundamentals are integer-related harmonics (similarity 0.89)
• Adjacent natural harmonics create smaller intervals as harmonic number increases. (similarity 0.88)
• The same musical interval’s dissonance changes with pitch register (similarity 0.86)
• Dissonance arises from inconsistent stretch of notes versus partials (similarity 0.85)
• Dissonance depends on musical interval, not a fixed beat rate across frequencies (similarity 0.85)
• Chord consonance is computed from individual harmonic proximity across the notes (similarity 0.85)
• Simple integer frequency ratios minimize partial interference and thus dissonance (similarity 0.84)
• Musical intervals trace directly to harmonic-series frequency ratios (similarity 0.83)
• Adjacent harmonics in the natural series produce progressively smaller musical intervals (similarity 0.83)
• Perceived dissonance arises when nearby harmonics fall within critical bandwidth (similarity 0.82)
• Consonance perception depends on harmonics up to about the seventh (similarity 0.82)
• Equal tempered intervals stay consonant because mistuning falls within critical bandwidth (similarity 0.81)
• Interval consonance ranking derives from critical-bandwidth proximity between harmonics (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Chord dissonance rises as harmonic number increases and interval shrinks #corroborates (0.88) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 998
• Higher pitched notes spread harmonics so wide that formant peaks vanish #expands (0.75)
• Dissonance depends on musical interval, not a fixed beat rate across frequencies #corroborates (0.72)