Subjective perception of sound cannot be predicted simply from its acoustic components

Evidence

This section concerns sounds which in some sense could be said to “deceive” the ear. Such sounds have a psychoacoustic realization which is not what might be expected from knowledge of their acoustic components. In other words, the subjective and objective realizations of sounds cannot be always directly matched up. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1609

This section concerns sounds which in some sense could be said to “deceive” the ear. Such sounds have a psychoacoustic realization which is not what might be expected from knowledge of their acoustic components. In other words, the subjective and objective realizations of sounds cannot be always directly matched up. While some of the examples given may be of no obvious musical use to the performer or composer, they may in the future find musi­ cal application in electronically produced music for particular musical effects where control over the acoustic components of the output sound is exact. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1609

This section concerns sounds that in some sense could be said to “deceive” the ear. Such sounds have a psychoacoustic realization that is not what might be expected from knowledge of their acoustic components. In other words, the subjective and objective realizations of sounds cannot be always directly matched up. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1568

Categorization

• DEFINE: Frames the whole chapter: acoustic deception means subjective and objective realizations of a sound don’t map one-to-one.
• SEED: Essay angle: the idea that our ears routinely ‘lie’ about what is acoustically present could frame broader meditation on the gap between objective and subjective experience.
• XREF: Resonates with the reader’s interest in how sound mechanics produce perceptual surprises. — connects to: Whether a sound counts as noise depends on subjective interpretation, not acoustics — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1025; Physical sound measurement cannot capture the subjective semantic meaning of a sonic environment — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1159; The soundscape is a cognitive construct, not an objective physical reality — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1451
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1609; David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1568