Pitch lacks magnitude, so rating scales fail where loudness scales succeed

Evidence

There is no subjective rating scale against which timbre judgments can be made, unlike pitch and loudness which can, on average, be reliably rated by listeners on scales from “high” to “low.” The commonly quoted American National Standards Institute formal definition of timbre reflects this: “Timbre is that attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which a listener can judge two sounds similarly presented and having the same loudness and pitch as being dissimilar” (ANSI, 1960). In other words, two sounds that are perceived as being different but that have the same perceived loudness and pitch differ by virtue of their timbre (consider the examples on track 62 of the accompanying CD). — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1425 (#expands, via linked claim)

Timbre judgments are highly subjective and therefore individualistic. Unlike pitch or loudness judgments, for which listeners might be asked to rate sounds on scales of low to high or soft to loud respectively, there is no “right” answer for timbre judgments. Listeners will usually be asked to compare the timbre of different sounds and rate each numerically between two opposite extremes of descriptive adjectives, for example on a 1-to-10 scale between “bright” (1)—“dark” (10) or “brilliant” (1)—“dull” (10), and a number of such descriptive adjective pairs could be rated for a particular sound. … Hall (1991) suggests that it is theoretically possible that one day up to five specific rating scales could be “sufficient to accurately identify almost any timbre.” — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1481 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Listeners cannot report auditory attributes on an absolute scale; Timbre lacks a one-dimensional subjective scale unlike pitch and loudness — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1425; Timbre, unlike pitch and loudness, has no objective scale — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1481 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Timbre lacks a one-dimensional subjective scale unlike pitch and loudness #expands (0.82) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1425
• Timbre, unlike pitch and loudness, has no objective scale #expands (0.80) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1481
• Pitch strength declines as stimuli move from pure tones toward noise #expands (0.75)