Study results confirm that attack onset dominates timbre perception

Evidence

Grey identified the following acoustic factors with respect to each of the three axes: (1) “spectral energy distribution” observed as increasing high-frequency components in the spectrum; (2) “synchronicity in the collective attacks and decays of upper harmonics” from sounds with note onsets in which all harmonics enter in close time alignment to those in which the entry of the harmonics is tapered; and (3) from sounds with “precedent high-frequency, low-amplitude energy, most often inharmonic energy, during the attack phase” to those without high-frequency attack energy. These results serve to demonstrate that (a) useful experimental work can and has been carried out on timbre, and (b) that acoustic conclusions can be reached that fit in with other observations, for example the emphasis of Grey’s axes (2) and (3) on the note onset phase. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1484

Categorization

• SEED: Good angle: the perceptual world relies on attack transients — what a listener hears in the first few milliseconds of a note decides instrument identity; could extend to how brief moments define whole judgements.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1484
• XREF: connects to: Grey’s timbre findings confirm that note onset transients largely determine perceived instrument identity — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1508