Doctoral Colloquium (Music) | Erica Huynh
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Doctoral Colloquium: Erica Huynh
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Timbre plays a crucial role in sound source recognition. Musical instrument sounds carry timbral information about two mechanical properties: the excitation sets into vibration the resonator, which filters sound components. Excitation–resonator interactions in the physical world are restrictive: Strings can be bowed and struck but seldom blown. We used Modalys to combine three excitations (bowing, blowing, striking) with three resonators (string, air column, plate), simulating nine interactions. These interactions are either typical (e.g., bowed string) or atypical (e.g., blown plate). Experiment 1 involved dissimilarity ratings of stimulus pairs. Experiment 2 entailed explicit categorization of excitations and resonators of the stimuli. Experiment 3 comprised three learning tasks training participants on the stimuli’s excitation, resonator, or interaction categories. Training involved trial and error with corrective feedback, followed by an explicit categorization task based on trained categories. Multidimensional scaling revealed a three-dimensional timbre space (Experiment 1). Dimension 1 showed a clear boundary between struck and continuous excitations. Dimension 2 isolated plates and Dimension 3 further separated strings and air columns. Listeners accurately categorized excitations and resonators of typical interactions (Experiments 2 & 3). They assimilated atypical interactions to typical ones (Experiment 2). This confusion was reduced after training was involved (Experiment 3). Therefore, categorical boundaries of excitations and resonators were already formed implicitly and not made explicit until training took place. These studies reveal that excitation and resonator properties can be processed independently. Furthermore, they highlight the role of timbre in an essential process of human behaviour: identifying the source of a sound.
Erica Huynh is an Interdisciplinary PhD Candidate under the supervision of Stephen McAdams at the Music Perception and Cognition Lab. Her research combines her backgrounds in music cognition, experimental psychology, and timbre perception. She is particularly interested in how individuals categorize novel sounds and how they become incorporated into their mental models.