Musicians describe sounds using pitch, loudness, and timbre descriptors

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)

Previously, there has been a tendency to transfer everything in steady-state sounds not related to the sensations of loudness or pitch, to a residual basket of sensations called timbre. Using this definition of timbre, it is necessary to extract from the mixture of sensations those that may be important. The sensation of “sharpness”, which may be related to what is called “density”, seems to be one of these. Closely related to sharpness, however inversely, is a sensation called sensory pleasantness. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1339 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: The critical band concept is the key to understanding perceived pitch, loudness, and timbre; Multidimensional scaling maps perceived timbre differences between instruments — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1482; 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 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Instrument timbre differences stem from harmonic spectra that shape masking breadth #expands (0.82) — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 449
• Timbre served as a residual basket for non-loudness non-pitch sensations #expands (0.82) — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1339
• Controlled experiments trace sound-feature variables against listeners’ behavioral responses #expands (0.80)
• Multidimensional scaling maps perceived timbre differences between instruments #exemplifies (0.78) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1482
• Instrument timbre determines how dissonant the same two-note interval sounds #expands (0.78)
• Pitch perception involves both spectral and temporal representations of sound #expands (0.78) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4638