Definitions of Timbre (by G.

Sandel)

Definitions of Timbre (compiled by G. Sandell)

Helmholtz (1885)

"When we hear notes of the same force and same pitch sounded successively
on a piano-forte, a violin, clarinet, oboe, or trumpet, or by the human voice,
the character of the musical tone of each of these instruments,
notwithstanding the identify of force and pitch, is so different that by means
of it we recognize with the greatest of ease which of these instruments was
used." (p. 19) "...the amplitude of the vibration determines the force or
loudness, and the period of vibration the pitch. Quality of tone can therefore
depend upon neither of these. The only possible hypothesis, therefore; is that
the quality of tone should depend upon the manner in which the motion is
performed within the period of each single vibration." (p. 19) "...to what
extent can the differences of musical quality be reduced to the combination
of different partial tones with different intensities in different musical
tones?" (p. 65) "There has been a general inclination to credit quality with all
possible peculiarities of musical tones that were not evidently due to force
and pitch. This was correct to the extent that quality of tone was merely a
negative conception: But very slight consideration will suffice to show that
many of these peculiarities of musical tones depend upon the way in which
they begin and end: . . . differences in the quality of tone of struck
strings...partly depends on the rapidity with which the tone dies away." (p:
66) "When we speak in what follows of musical quality of tone, we shall
disregard these peculiarities of beginning and ending, and confine our
attention to the peculiarities of the musical tone which continues uniformly.
But even when a musical tone continues with uniform or variable intensity, it
is mixed up, in the general methods of excitement; with certain noises, which
express greater or less irregularities in the motion of the air." (p. 67) "Such
accompanying noises and little inequalities in the motion of the air, furnish
much that is characteristic in the tones of musical instruments...
Notwithstanding the absence of these noises, it is generally possible to
discriminate the-different musical instruments; although it must be
acknowledged that under such circumstances the tone of a French horn may
be occasionally mistaken for that of the singing voice; or a violoncello may be
confused with an harmonium: . . . In the present chapter we shall at first
disregard all irregular portions of the motion of the air; and the mode in
which sounds commence or terminate, directing our attention solely to the
musical part of the tone, properly so called, which corresponds to a
uniformly sustained and regularly period motion of the air..." (p: 68)
"...differences in musical quality of tone depend solely on the presence and
strength of partial tomes; and in -no respect on the differences in phase
under which these partial tones enter into composition. It must be here
observed that we are speaking only of musical quality as previously defined."
(p: 127)

Fletcher (1934)
 Textbooks customarily believe that loudness, pitch and timbre correlate
directly with sound intensity, fundamental frequency and overtone
structure... "but these experiments show that a simple one-to-one
relationship does not exist." (p. 59) One might define timbre as "that
characteristic of sensation which enables the listeners to recognize the kind
of musical instrument producing the tone, that is, whether it is a cornet, a
flute or a violin." (p. 67) "...changes in loudness or pitch; without in any way
changing the overtone structures, will also produce changes in timbre." (p.
68) "...timbre depends principally upon the overtone structure; but large
changes in the intensity and the frequency also produce changes in the
timbre." (p. 68)

Seashore (1938)

"Tone quality has two fundamental aspects, namely, (1) timbre; which is the
simultaneous presence or fusion of the fundamental and its overtones at a
given moment, and (2) sonance, the successive presence or fusion of
changing timbre; pitch, and intensity in a tone as a whole. The first may be
called simultaneous fusion; the second; successive: Each of these may be
reduced to the constituent factors which are recordable and measurable and,
from the physical point of view, represent the structure of the tone." (p: 95)
"In general, we may say that, aside from accessory noises and inharmonic
elements, the timbre of atone depends upon (1) the number of harmonic
partials present, (2) the relative location or locations of these partials in the
range from the lowest to- the highest, and (3) the relative strength or
dominance of each partial." (pp. 96-97) ". . . we obtain a definition of timbre
as follows: Timbre is that characteristic of a tone which depends upon its
harmonic structure as modified by absolute pitch and total intensity. . . .we
must also take phase relations into account. Physically the timbre of the tone
is a cross section of the tone quality for the moment represented by the
duration of one vibration in the sound." (p. 97) Definition of sonance: he first
observes that when viewing a movie of any moving object; although we are
being presented a series of discrete snapshots of the object appearing
stationary, our experience is of actual motion of the object, because the
successive snapshots fuse. "The same principle of fusion appears in hearing.
In tonal hearing, successive waves come so fast that they cannot be heard as
individual waves; that is, we cannot separate the timbre or the pitch or the
intensity in one wave from that in the next wave by hearing. The result is that
they fuse and for a given period of time, the mean period of clear perception,
we hear a resultant pitch; intensity; or timbre which tends to be an average
for what is represented in the series of waves that can be grasped in one -
moment of perception: The timbre of atone corresponds to the single
instantaneous picture; sonance corresponds to the picture progression."
(pp.103-104).

Wood (19??)

"Musical 'Quality'.--If a note of a given pitch is played successively on two

different musical instruments, and played with exactly the same loudness,
we can distinguish between the two sounds and refer each to its appropriate
instrument: The basis of this judgment is the 'quality' of the sound. The
piano, the violin, the voice, the flute &c., each has its own characteristic
'quality'. The German word for it is 'klängfarbe; the French word (frequently
 borrowed in English) is 'timbre'. But quality not only enables us to
distinguish between two notes produced on different kinds of instruments, it
also enables us to distinguish between two notes produced on two different
instruments of the same kind. What distinguishes the voice of one singer
from that of another and is characteristic of an individual voice is its quality."
(p. 61)

Licklider (1951)

"The timbre of a complex sound has usually been defined as the subjective
quality that depends upon the complexity or overtone structure of the
physical sound. We have seen; however, that both the loudness and the pitch
of a complex tone are influenced to some extent by its overtone structure. We
must, therefore, not fall back upon the ill-defined notion that timbre has to
do with the distribution or pattern of pitch and loudness in the total
sensation Until careful scientific work has been done on the subject, it cam
hardly be possible to say more about timbre than that it is a
'multidimensional' dimension." (p. 1019)

Ellis (1885)

Alexander Ellis, translator of Helmholtz's On the Sensations of Tone;

struggled with the decision of translating Helmholtz's word Klängfarbe: "I
can find no valid reason for supplanting the time-honoured expression
quality of tone. Prof. Tyndall quotes Dr. Young to the effect that 'this quality
of sound is sometimes called its register, colour, or timbre:' Register has a
distinct meaning in vocal music which must not be disturbed. Timbre,
properly a kettledrum, then a helmet, then the coat of arms surmounted with
a helmet; then the official stamp bearing that coat of arms (now used in
France for a postage label), and then the mark which declared a thing to be
what it pretends to be. Brun's 'Guinea's stamp', is a foreign word, often
odiously mispronounced; and not worth preserving. Colour I have never met
with as applied to music, except at most as a passing metaphorical
expression: But the difference of tones in quality is familiar to our language."
(p. 24, footnote)

ANSI (1960)

" 12.9 Timbre. Timbre is that attribute of auditory sensation in terms of

which a listener can judge that two sounds similarly presented and having
the same loudness and pitch are dissimilar. NOTE: Timbre depends
primarily upon the spectrum of the stimulus, but it also depends upon the
waveform, the sound pressure, the frequency location of the spectrum, and
the temporal characteristics of the stimulus." (ANSI 1960, p: 45; also in
ANSI, 1973)

Levarie and Levy (1968)

"When a violin and oboe; of instance, play the same pitch with the loudness,
we can yet distinguish the two tones by their timbre. This property is often
ailed the 'tone quality' or the 'tone color.' I advocate ignoring these names,
because they tend to create confusion. Tone 'quality' is too general, for
logically pitch and loudness are also qualities. Tone 'color' is an optical term
which is out of place in acoustics." (p: 63) "...the indirect bearing of loudness
 on timbre. For as the loudness of atone increases, overtones are aroused that
may have been negligible before; and as it wanes; some overtones are
dampened and lost before others. The result is a change of timbre
concomitant with a change in loudness." (pp: 63-64) "The point need not be
belabored that the smallest change in any agent participating in the creation
of a tone...evokes a change in the actually sounding overtone series and
hence a corresponding modification of the total timbre. . . . Any change of
pressure or position necessarily brings about a fresh overtone constellation;
and if a new pitch or a new degree of loudness is the primary purpose of such
a change, timbre can justifiably be thought of as an attribute that perpetually
characterizes the other properties of a tone. The singer Luisa Tetrazzini
claimed that every pitch has its appropriate 'natural' timbre, and many wind
players would agree:" (p: 13?)

Schouten (1968)

"When describing a sound as it presents itself to us in auditory perception we

are able to characterize it by various perceptual attributes. It may sound loud
or weak, high or low, long or short. These attributes: loudness, pitch and
duration are the easiest to ascertain in the overall impression of any sound.
For all other qualities we have scarcely more at our disposal thin the one and
all embracing term: timbre: A very vague way of brining all other unresolved
attributes under one general heading. This is an extremely disappointing
state of affairs. The tone of the violin, for instance; may sound [xerox copy
disfigures one or two words here] and long. But these easily perceptible
attributes are the very ones which are the least if invariant with respect to the
particular sound of a violin. The vague heading "timbre", though, is precisely
the one which covers those invariant acoustic properties which make us
recognize the violin." (p. 35) "In most textbooks timbre is defined as the
overtone structure or the envelope of the spectrum of the physical sound.
This definition is hopelessly insufficient, as I hope to prove by demonstrating
that timbre can be expressed in terms of at least five major parameters . . . "
(p. 38) The five parameters are "l. The range between tonal and noiselike
character, 2: The spectral envelope, 3. The time envelope in terms of rise,
duration and decay, 4. The change both of spectral envelope (formant glide)
or fundamental frequency microintonation), 5. The prefix, an onset of a
sound quite dissimilar to the ensuing lasting vibration." (p. 42)

Risset and Mathews (1969)

They cite the generally accepted definition of timbre as "the attribute that
enables the listener to identify the instrument producing the tone." (p. 23)

Plomp (1970)

He refines the ASA definition to "that attribute of sensation in terms of

which a listener can judge that two steady complex tones having the same
loudness, pitch and duration are dissimilar." (p. 398) Schouten's comments
after Plomp: "We can play a violin at different loudnesses, different
durations and different pitches, but it is always a violin: We say, well; that is
its timbre. But this includes many aspects..." (p. 411) He lists harmonic
sounds, noiselike sounds, contributions of the time envelope, the way the
onset differs from the rest of the tone, etc.. Plomp agrees that we need more
carefully defined words, and using timbre to count for all of this is
 problematic.

Erickson {1975)

"Clearly timbre is a multidimensional stimulus: it cannot be correlated with

any single physical dimension." (p. 4) "TIMBRE OR TONE COLOR? The
word or phrase we use as a handy reference is much less important than the
idea to which it refers. I generally use the term "timbre" but often use "tone
color" in the same sense. Neither term is very satisfactory, nor is "tone
quality" much of an improvement." (pp. 6-7) "Objections may be raise that
musical timbre should be equated with the quality of the speaking voice
rather than with the individual speech sounds; that it is the 'clarinet quality'
rather than the individual sounds which is significant, and that the overall
'clarinet quality' corresponds to the quality of a speaker's voice. I do not
mean to exclude this aspect of timbre: But overall 'clarinet quality' can be
shown to have no clear-cut one-to-one relationship to the acoustical signal
either! We can no more synthesize a clarinet from a single description of the
signal than we can synthesize all the ah sounds we use in speech from a
single acoustical recipe. Analysis of the gamut of clarinet tones might lead
one the say that it is three instruments, rather than one!" (p. 3) In the section
called "Timbre as Carrier": "The chief function of timbre in most Western
concert music of the past has been that of carrier of melodic functions. The
differences of timbre at different pitches and in different registers of
instruments . . . have been treated as nuances." (p. 12) The contrast is the use
of timbre as objects, where these differences are highlighted as much as
possible (esp. by using disjunct melodic lines that prevent the listener from
hearing timbre regularity).

Grey {1975)

"Timbre may refer to the features of tone which serve to identify that a
musical sound originates from some particular instrument or family of
instruments, for example, that it is an oboe, or perhaps some sort of double-
reed instrument; or maybe just some woodwind instrument." {p. 1)

Hajda, Kendall and Carterette (1997)

"Based on research findings and [previous] definitions... it is clear that

timbre has two principle constituents: (1) It 'conveys the identity of the
instrument that produced it' (Butler, 1992, p. 238); and (2) It is
representable by a palette or family of palettes {see Martens, 1985) in which
tones from different sources can be related along perceptual dimensions. The
first constituent is nominal or categorical in nature: the clarinet has a
characteristic to its sound, regardless of the pitch, loudness, etc. The second
constituent is a hybrid of categorical and ordinal organization: the clarinet is
not nasal and is therefore differentiated from the oboe, which is nasal. On
the other hand, the clarinet has attributes which make it unique:" (p: 302)

Roederer (1975)

"Timbre perception is, however, just a first stage of the operation of tone
source recognition---in music, the identification of the instrument. From this
point of view, tone quality perception is the mechanism by means of which
information is extracted from the auditory signal in such a way as to make it
 suitable for: (1) storage in the memory with an adequate label of
identification, and (2) comparison with previously stored and identified
information. The first operation-involves learning or conditioning. A child
who learns to recognize a given musical instrument is presented repeatedly
with a melody played on that instrument and told: 'This is a clarinet.' Ibis
brain extracts suitable information from the succession of auditory stimuli,
labels this information with the qualification 'clarinet' and stores it in the
memory. The second operation represents the conditioned response to a
learned pattern: When the child hears a clarinet play after the learning
experience, his brain compares the information extracted from the incoming
signal (i.e. the timbre) with stored cues, and, if a successful- match is found;
conveys the response: 'a clarinet.' On the other hand; if we listen to anew'
sound, e.g., a series of tones concocted with an electronic synthesizer, our
information-extracting system will feed the cures into the matching
mechanism, which will then try desperately to compare the input with
previously stored information: If this matching process is unsuccessful; a
new storage 'file' will eventually be opened up for this new, now identified,
sound quality. If the process is only partly successful; we react with such
judgments as 'almost like a clarinet' or 'like a barking trombone."' (pp.
138-139)

Plomp (1976)

"... harmonics manifest themselves in -the specific quality or timbre of the

complex tone. . . . Timbre is multidimensional. ...we do not have a uni-
dimensional scale for comparing the timbres of various sounds. The singular
character of timbre become particularly apparent in the dictionary definition
of timbre as 'the characteristic quality of sound that distinguishes one voice
or musical instrument from another or one vowel sound from another'
(Webster). In this broad sense, timbre depends upon several parameters of
the sound including the spectral envelope and its change in time, periodic
fluctuations of the amplitude or the fundamental frequency, and whether the
sound is a tone or noise" (p. 85) Since we are dealing here exclusively with
steady-state periodic sounds, timbre, too, will be considered in its most
narrow sense as 'that attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which a
listener can judge that two steady-state complex tones having the same
loudness and pitch; are dissimilar'." (pp. 85-86) "The broad definition of the
dictionary and the restricted one just given have one common characteristic:
both are virtually negative descriptions. They stat that timbre is neither
loudness nor pitch but say no more than that. This definitional vagueness is
related to the multidimensionality of the attribute: The tone of a trumpet,
containing many strong harmonics, sounds much brighter than a simple
tone, but a bright-dull scale does not suffice for describing the diversity of
auditory sensations of various complex tones. As early as 1890, Stumpf listed
no less than 20 relevant semantic scales as wide-narrow, smooth-rough;
round-sharp, etc:, concluding that this wealth of adjectives is comparable
only with those used by wine merchants for extolling their products." (p. 86)
"...the ear is not as 'phase deaf as had been suggested by earlier
investigators." (p: &8) "...we may conclude that the effect on timbre of
varying the phase spectrum of a complex tone is small compared with the
effect of varying the amplitude spectrum." (p. 91) "...reverberation has...a
substantial blurring effect on...timbres... Similarly, it can be shown that the
spectral differences between the same vowel sounds produced by different
 speakers are not much larger than the differences introduced by
reverberation." (p. 101) "...what is the effect on timbre if we vary the
fundamental frequency, fb, of the stimulus? . . . [it] will depend upon
whether timbre is determined by the spectral envelope relative to fb or by the
absolute frequency position of the spectral envelope irrespective of f0.. ...a
necessary condition for similarity of timbre for sounds with different
fundamental frequencies is that they have similar spectral envelopes in
terms of absolute frequency though this similarity will necessarily be less for
greater differences of fundamental frequency." (p. 107) "clearly...timbre is
determined by the absolute frequency position of the spectral envelope
rather than by the position of the spectral envelope relative to the
fundamental: . . . [Bismarck] found that sharpness as the major attribute of
timbre is primarily related to the position of the loudness centre on an
absolute frequency scale rather than to a particular shape of the spectral
envelope. . . . The dependence of timbre upon frequency would imply that
simple tones [sine waves] are also characterized by a specific timbre, to be
distinguished from their pitch: Low frequency tones do indeed sound dull
and high-frequency tones sharp... The observation that simple tones have
some resemblance; depending upon their frequency, with particular vowels
also supports this view. Subjects appear to be able to label simple tones
rather well in terms of vowels... This resemblance is related to the frequency
of the most characteristic formant or combination of formants." (p. 110) "The
conclusion that sounds- with different pitch sound most similar if their
spectral envelops correspond does not imply that no perceptual differences
remain apart from pitch: The same vowel pronounced by a male and a
female speaker will sounds quite different. . . . ...the spacing of the
harmonics, determined by the fundamental frequency, is responsible for the
timbre dissimilarity of sounds with different pitch but similar spectral
envelopes." (p. 110)

Pratt and Dock (1976)

"Timbre-is that attribute of auditory sensation whereby a listener can judge

that two sounds are dissimilar using any criteria other than pitch, loudness
or duration."

Rasch and Plomp (1982)

"Timbre is, after pitch and loudness, the third attribute of the subjective
experience of musical tones. Subjectively, timbre is often coded as the
function of the sound source or of the meaning of the sound: We talk about
the timbre of certain musical instruments, of vowels, and of sounds that
signify certain events in our environment (apparatus, sounds from nature;
footsteps, the slapping of a door; etc.)." (p: 12) "In a restricted sense timbre
may be considered the subjective counterpart of the spectral composition of
tones. Especially important is the relative amplitude of the harmonics. . . .
Recent research has shown that temporal characteristics of the tones may
have a profound influence on timbre as well, which has led to a broadening
of the concept of timbre... Both onset effects (rise time, presence of noise or
inharmonic partials during onset, unequal rise of partials, characteristic
shape of rise curve, etc.) and steady state effects (vibrato, amplitude
modulation, gradual swelling, pitch instability; etc:) are important factors in
the recognition and, therefore, in the timbre of tones." (pp. 13-14) "Sounds
 cannot be -ordered on a single scale with respect to timbre. Timbre is a
multidimensional attribute of the perception of sounds." (p. 14)

Slawson (1985)

He chooses to dispense with the word timbre altogether; since the classical
definition is inadequate, yet widely accepted (p. 19) A theory of sound color
should be able "to specify how to preserve color under changes in the
loudness or the duration of a sound. We would like to know how to change
pitch without changing sound color: Moreover; if sound color itself is a
complex phenomenon made up a several different aspects or dimensions, we
must show how one aspect of color can be held invariant as other aspects are
varies." (p. 17) "There is no agreement, however, about what constitutes an
element of sound color. Is sound color to be associated with a specific
musical instrument, say, a particular Stradivarius violin? . . . Or should the
sound of all instruments of the same type be taken as the basic element of
color? When the violin, any violin, is said to have a different 'instrumental
color' from the oboe; we are using the term that way:" (p. 15)

Dowling & Harwood (1986)

"Timbre (or tone color) . . . refers to the differences of sound quality among
various musical instruments, as well as among the various syllables of speech
(hah vs. goo, for example). Sound vary in timbre along several dimensions;
just as the syllables pah, poh, tah and toh differ on at least two dimensions. .
. . timbre distinctions for speech sounds are fundamentally the same as those
required for musical sounds:" (p: 5) "Timbre has always been the
miscellaneous category for describing the psychological attributes of sound;
gathering into one bundle whatever was left over alter pitch loudness, and
duration had been accounted for. Unlike the psychophysical relationships
involved in the latter categories, which are relatively straightforward, the
relationship underlying timbre are complex and multidimensional . . . The
psychological attributes clustered under the heading timbre fall along more
than one psychological dimension; that is, sounds do not simply direr in how
much timbre they have. And there are several physical dimensions whose
variation causes changes in timbre that interact with each other in complex
ways." (p. 63)

Houtsma (1989)

Interpretation of the ANSI (1960) definition: "According to this definition,

timbre is the subjective correlate of all those sound properties that do not
directly influence pitch or loudness. These properties include the sound's
spectral power distribution; its temporal envelope . . . rate and depth of
amplitude or frequency modulation, and the degree of inharmonicity of its
partials. The timbre of a sound therefore depends on many physical
variables." (p. 157)

Krumhansl (1989)

Problems in the definition of timbre:

. 1. "the complexity of acoustic measurements" (p. 43) which usually consists
of "taking the form of spectral energy distributions and amplitude envelopes.
These descriptions, however, are so complex that it is difficult to isolate
 characteristics that distinguish between timbres." (p. 44)
. 2. "the assumed independence of timbre from other dimensions of musical
sound" (p. 43) "Can we really assume the differences in spectral energy
distributions are completely uncoupled from pitch perception mechanisms
in hearing?" (p. 44)
. 3: "generalizing the notion of timbre beyond the set of traditional orchestral
instruments"
Different levels of timbral description:
. 1. "the expressive variations available to performing musicians" (45)
. 2. "commonalities shared by all oboe tones, all bowed violin tones, all
timpani tones, and so on" (45)
. 3. Broader family t3istinctions or method-of-production distinctions:
"percussive instruments, whose behavior is determined completely at the
instant when they are set into motion; and instruments; such as blown and
bowed instruments, whose behavior is controlled continuously." (45)
Alternative set of distinctions for describing sound (viz:
Schaeffer; McAdams):
. 1. "varying degrees of temporal extent or musical complexity. . . . single,
discrete sound events that are heard as being produced by a single source:"
(45) . 2. "emergent properties, such as texture, density, streams, and musical
gestures." (45)
. 3. "larger-scale musical forms or organizations that grow out of the sound
material." (45)

Bregman (1990)

On the ASA definition: "This is, of course; no definition at all. For example; it
implies that there are some sounds for which we cannot decide whether they
possess the quality of timbre or not. In order for the definition to apply; two
sounds need to be able to be presented at the same pitch, but there are some
sounds, such as the scarping of a shovel in a pile of gravel, that have no pitch
at all: We obviously have a problem: Either we must assert that only sounds
with pitch can have timbre, meaning that we cannot discuss the timbre of-a
tambourine or of the musical sounds of many African cultures, or there is
something terribly wrong with the definition." (p. 92) He points out that part
of the problem may stem from-the fact that pitch and loudness are
controlled in musical instruments in straightforward, consistent ways, but
timbre is not. The methods of varying timbre ''vary from instrument to
instrument: . . . When we do find a characteristic of sound that can be
obtained on different instruments, such as vibrato, the characteristic tends to
be given a label and no longer falls into the nameless wastebasket of
'timbre'." (p. 93) His requirements for a vocabulary for timbre include
having labels for salient dimensions that should (1) "act in psychologically
simple ways" and should "have straightforward physical definitions." (pp.
93-94) However; he also says: "Until such time as the dimensions of timbre
are clarified perhaps it is better to drop the term timbre" (p. 94)

Rossing (1990)

His table 5.1, "Dependence of subjective qualities of sound on physical

parameters" lists timbre as being weakly dependent on pressure and
duration, moderately dependent on frequency and envelope, and strongly
dependent on spectrum: (p: 80) Comment on the ANSI (1960) definition:
 "This definition suggests that judgment of timbre must take place under
conditions of equal loudness and pitch (and probably equal duration as
well)." (p. 125) "Timbre or tone quality depends on the frequency of atone,
its time envelope, its duration, and the sound level at which it is heard.
Under most conditions, the timbre of a complex sound is insensitive to the
phase of its components:" (p: 137) . Cho, Hall and Pastore (1993 )
"Normalization is a type of perceptual constancy that can be loosely defined
as the process by which the perceptual system adjusts for differences
between sources in order to preserve an intended perceptual message." (p. 3)
"Timbre is the subjective attribute of source (instrument) that is based on
invariant properties that uniquely characterize the tones produced by the
source: Unfortunately, the pursuit of an adequate definition of timbre is both
related to and dependent upon establishing which characteristics (or
combination of characteristics) are important for perceptually determining
an instrument's distinctive sound quality." (pp. 6-7)

Handel (1995)

"We will use the term timbre to refer to the perceptual qualities of objects
and events; that is, 'what it sounds like.' Traditionally, timbre has been
thought of as related to one acoustically measurable property such as that
each note of an instrument or each spoken sound of one voice would be
characterized by a single value of that property. . . . due to the interactive
nature of sound production, there are many stable and time varying
acoustical properties. It is unlikely that any one property or combination of
properties uniquely determines timbre. The sense of timbre comes from the
emergent, interactive properties of the vibration pattern. . . . One possibility
is that timbre is perceived in terms of the actions required to generate the
event. . . . The perception of the production invariances would allow us to
hear the same object in spite of large changes in the acoustical signal:
Another possibility is that timbre is perceived simply in terms of the acoustic
properties and that the connection between the acoustic properties and the
object is learned by experience. In this view, the acoustic properties are used
to figure out what event was most likely to have produced that sound." (p.
426)

REFERENCES (incomplete)

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. ANSI { 1960). See American National Standards Institute (1960).

. ANSI (1973). See American National Standards Institute (1973).

. Bregman, A. (1990). Auditory Scene Analysis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

. Cho, J.L., Hall, M.D. and Pastore, R.E. (1993). Normalization of musical
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. Rowling, V. and Harwood, D: (1986). Music Cognition: New York:

Academic Press.

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California Press.

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