Dimension Analysis of the Perception of Instrumental Timbre

W edin L. & G oude G. Dimension analysis of the perception of instrumental timbre. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1972, 1 3 , 228–240.—The dimensionality of the perception of instrumental timbre for single tones was investigated through multidimensional scaling according to Ekman's vector model of similarity. Three factors were extracted and they were identified with certain characteristics of the spectrum envelopes. It was found that initial transients were important for the identifiability of instrumental tones but their presence or absence did not influence the dimensional structure. The “perceptual structure” was found to be different from the “cognitive structure” (= knowledge about the classification of the instruments), and the results are general for both trained and naive listeners.