Sound and Music

In General
@ And physics: Rigden 85; Johnston 89; Roederer 95.
@ And mathematics: Mazzola 85; Segre m.HO/04 [tonal harmony]; Zweifel JSP(05); Loy 07.
@ And the history of science: Levenson 94.
@ Related topics: Hsu & Hsu PNAS(91) [fractal music]; Godwin 93 [music of the spheres]; Nat(04)nov [and composer's language].

Musical Instruments
* Earliest instruments: 50,000 BC, recorder-style bone flute found in Slovenian cave.
@ General references: Fletcher & Rossing 98.
@ Drums: Rossing PT(92)mar; Rossing 00; Malu & Siddharthan mp/00.
@ Keyboard instruments: Lubenow & Meyn EJP(07) [tuning].
@ Percussion: Rossing et al PT(96)mar [steel drums]; Suits AJP(01) [xylophone and marimbas].
@ Violin: Schumacher & Woodhouse CP(95) [computer model]; Gough pw(00)apr [Stradivarius].
@ Wind instruments: Campbell CP(99) [reed and brass dynamics].
@ Cognitive aspects: Leman 95.

Human Hearing and Voice
* Ranges: 2 × 10^–10 to 2 × 10^–4 atm for tonal hearing without damage, can discriminate f / f = 0.0015.
* Hearing: Our ears can almost hear the wisper of the brownian motion.
@ Hearing: De Boer PRP(80), PRP(84), PRP(91), and refs; Sataloff SA(92)dec; Hartmann PT(99)nov [sound localization]; Duke pw(02)may; Ramm PLA(06) [shape of ear canal].
@ Hearing, books: Helmholtz 1877; Handel 93; Luce 93; Zatorre & Peretz ed-01 [biological foundations of music].
@ Speech and language: Werker AS(89); Olive et al 93 [American English].

Psychoacoustics > s.a. sound.
* Frequency and pitch: Not exactly the same thing; Very low f 's all give the same pitch; Intensity affects pitch.
* Non-linear effects: Our ear partly integrates sounds, up to 50 ms (reverberation increases loudness); We can perceive difference tones f corresponding to non-existing frequencies, and beats between different ears!
@ General references: Roederer 95; Howard 96; Zwicker & Fastl 99 [r PT(01)jun]; Cook & Hayashi AS(08)#4 [harmony perception].
@ Frequency vs perceived pitch: Neuhoff & McBeath AJP(97) [Doppler effect].
@ Processing in the brain: Deutsch SA(92)aug; Cartwright et al PRL(99) + pn(99)jun [non-linear].

Architectural Acoustics
* Idea: For sound quality, want to increase direct sound vs diffuse sound, but for spaciousness want some reflections from side walls; Optimal width is smaller than depth – shoebox shape.
@ References: Thompson 02.

General References on Sound
@ I: Hall TPT(89); Kruth & Stobart ed-00.
@ General references: Strong & Plitnik 92; Taylor 92; Rossing & Fletcher 95; Rossing et al 02; Berg & Stork 04.
@ Sound Spectrum (Wall Chart, 56 × 86 cm) SF: The Exploratorium 93 [r AJP(94) Rossing].

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Send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – Modified 2 jul 2008