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A psychophysical investigation of timbre was undertaken with the intent of deriving quantitative results that could be useful in musical applications. Recordings of metal objects being struck with percussion mallets were rated by subjects on a unidimensional perceptual scale of perceived mallet hardness. Four acoustical parameters of the attack portion (first 325 ms) were defined and evaluated as predictors of perceived mallet hardness rating. To measure these parameters, a critical-band filter bank was employed. Two curves were extracted from the filter-bank output: (1) spectral level (log of area under spectrum) over time, and (2) spectral centroid over time. For each curve, two parameters were measured: the mean and the slope of the spectral level curve, and the mean and the time-weighted average of the spectral centroid curve. Multiple regression analysis was used to relate the perceptual ratings to these four acoustical parameters, and a good fit was achieved (multiple R-squared = 0.725, F = 1135.8, p less than 0.01). The resulting function is suitable for quantitatively predicting the perceptual dimension of perceived mallet hardness.
Daniel J. Freed (Mon,) studied this question.