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Fwd: Re: Loudness of complex tones



RE:  Loudness of complex tones, in particular, musical instrument tones.

In our lab at the University of Washington, we have completed two studies
which deal specifically with loudness of musical instrument tones.  My
colleague, Daniel Bruck, did an adjustment study where subjects adjusted a
second tone of the same pitch and instrument type to be equally loud.  The
variable was the original musical dynamic of the two tones (eg., piano,
forte, mezzo forte, etc.).  Thus, the spectral envelopes differed.  He also
did a comparison between the Stevens and Zwicker methods of calculating
loudness using these stimuli.  I completed a study where loudness was
calculated according to the Zwicker method for a two-octave playing range
in two extreme musical dynamics (pianissimo and fortissimo) for twenty-six
different musical instruments.  One objective was to compare loudnesses
across and between instrumental families and voices (soprano, alto, tenor,
bass).  Another objective was to make a comparison with spectral
measurements of sharpness as defined by Bismarck (1974) which uses
psychoacoustical modeling based on the Zwicker method but with an
exponential weighting for frequency.  Both of these studies dealt with
"steady-state" tones.  You may get a copy of the technical reports from
Douglas Keefe, School of Music, DN-10, University of Washington, Seattle,
WA  98195.  They are also in preparation for publication.

As alluded to in some of the previous responses, another interesting
question is the time-varying aspect of loudness.  In music, there are many
contextual situations where expression is dependent upon varying loudness
on a single note whether it be through articulations, phrasing, or vibrato.

Pamela Goad
pgoad@metolius.cocc.edu