Musical expertise and concurrent sound segregation

2006 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. 3285-3286
Author(s):  
Benjamin Rich Zendel ◽  
Claude Alain
Keyword(s):  
Musical Expertise ◽  
Sound Segregation

Concurrent Sound Segregation Is Enhanced in Musicians

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 1488-1498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Rich Zendel ◽  
Claude Alain
Keyword(s):  
Second Harmonic ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Harmonic Series ◽  
Complex Scene ◽  
Complex Sounds ◽  
Musical Expertise ◽  
Sound Segregation ◽  
Perceptual Abilities ◽  
The Impact

The ability to segregate simultaneously occurring sounds is fundamental to auditory perception. Many studies have shown that musicians have enhanced auditory perceptual abilities; however, the impact of musical expertise on segregating concurrently occurring sounds is unknown. Therefore, we examined whether long-term musical training can improve listeners' ability to segregate sounds that occur simultaneously. Participants were presented with complex sounds that had either all harmonics in tune or the second harmonic mistuned by 1%, 2%, 4%, 8%, or 16% of its original value. The likelihood of hearing two sounds simultaneously increased with mistuning, and this effect was greater in musicians than nonmusicians. The segregation of the mistuned harmonic from the harmonic series was paralleled by an object-related negativity that was larger and peaked earlier in musicians. It also coincided with a late positive wave referred to as the P400 whose amplitude was larger in musicians than in nonmusicians. The behavioral and electrophysiological effects of musical expertise were specific to processing the mistuned harmonic as the N1, the N1c, and the P2 waves elicited by the tuned stimuli were comparable in both musicians and nonmusicians. These results demonstrate that listeners' ability to segregate concurrent sounds based on harmonicity is modulated by experience and provides a basis for further studies assessing the potential rehabilitative effects of musical training on solving complex scene analysis problems illustrated by the cocktail party example.

scholarly journals Comparative Time Series Analysis of Perceptual Responses to Electroacoustic Music

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freya Bailes ◽  
Roger T. Dean
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Sound Intensity ◽  
Electroacoustic Music ◽  
Affective Content ◽  
Musical Expertise ◽  
Perceived Change ◽  
Time Series Analyses ◽  
Time Perceptions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Acoustic Measure

this study investigates the relationship between acoustic patterns in contemporary electroacoustic compositions, and listeners' real-time perceptions of their structure and affective content. Thirty-two participants varying in musical expertise (nonmusicians, classical musicians, expert computer musicians) continuously rated the affect (arousal and valence) and structure (change in sound) they perceived in four compositions of approximately three minutes duration. Time series analyses tested the hypotheses that sound intensity influences listener perceptions of structure and arousal, and spectral flatness influences perceptions of structure and valence. Results suggest that intensity strongly influences perceived change in sound, and to a lesser extent listener perceptions of arousal. Spectral flatness measures were only weakly related to listener perceptions, and valence was not strongly shaped by either acoustic measure. Differences in response by composition and musical expertise suggest that, particularly with respect to the perception of valence, individual experience (familiarity and liking), and meaningful sound associations mediate perception.

Newborn Infants Detect Cues of Concurrent Sound Segregation

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Bendixen ◽  
Gábor P. Háden ◽  
Renáta Németh ◽  
Dávid Farkas ◽  
Miklós Török ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Newborn Infants ◽  
Random Order ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Veridical Perception ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Perceptual Object ◽  
Delayed Onset ◽  
Sound Segregation ◽  
Complex Tones

Separating concurrent sounds is fundamental for a veridical perception of one's auditory surroundings. Sound components that are harmonically related and start at the same time are usually grouped into a common perceptual object, whereas components that are not in harmonic relation or have different onset times are more likely to be perceived in terms of separate objects. Here we tested whether neonates are able to pick up the cues supporting this sound organization principle. We presented newborn infants with a series of complex tones with their harmonics in tune (creating the percept of a unitary sound object) and with manipulated variants, which gave the impression of two concurrently active sound sources. The manipulated variant had either one mistuned partial (single-cue condition) or the onset of this mistuned partial was also delayed (double-cue condition). Tuned and manipulated sounds were presented in random order with equal probabilities. Recording the neonates' electroencephalographic responses allowed us to evaluate their processing of the sounds. Results show that, in both conditions, mistuned sounds elicited a negative displacement of the event-related potential (ERP) relative to tuned sounds from 360 to 400 ms after sound onset. The mistuning-related ERP component resembles the object-related negativity (ORN) component in adults, which is associated with concurrent sound segregation. Delayed onset additionally led to a negative displacement from 160 to 200 ms, which was probably more related to the physical parameters of the sounds than to their perceptual segregation. The elicitation of an ORN-like response in newborn infants suggests that neonates possess the basic capabilities of segregating concurrent sounds by detecting inharmonic relations between the co-occurring sounds.

Multidimensional scaling of emotional responses to music: The effect of musical expertise and of the duration of the excerpts

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1113-1139 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Bigand ◽  
S. Vieillard ◽  
F. Madurell ◽  
J. Marozeau ◽  
A. Dacquet
Keyword(s):  
Multidimensional Scaling ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Musical Expertise

Zero-crossing-based ratio masking for sound segregation

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung Jun An ◽  
Young-Ik Kim ◽  
Rhee Man Kil
Keyword(s):  
Zero Crossing ◽  
Sound Segregation

Musical expertise: The dynamic movement of the trombone slide

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-49
Author(s):  
Mark Mark Lammers ◽  
Lela June Stoner ◽  
Richard Fuller ◽  
Debra Allyn
Keyword(s):  
Musical Expertise ◽  
Dynamic Movement
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