psychoacoustics

[Sean Costello]

Edu Silva wrote:
> 
> De: Martin Czech <martin.czech at intermetall.de>
> 
> > Who knows a good book about psychoacoustics?
> 
> ON THE SENSATIONS OF TONE
> Author: Hermann von Helmholtz
> ISBN:   0486607534

State of the art for 1878! Actually, it is an amazing book, and well
worth owning, but I wouldn't use it as a primary source for any
component of musical acoustics, due to the Helmholtz model (of steady
state harmonic spectra) being rather outmoded.  Still, get it anyway, as
it lays the foundations for just about everything in musical acoustics.

For psychoacoustics, I would recommend "The Science of Musical Sound" by
John R. Pierce.  Very nice introduction to musical acoustics,
psychoacoustics, etc.  I know that Diana Deutch has done a great deal of
research in this field, and has edited a book called "The Psychology of
Music," but I haven't read it.  For in-depth musical instrument physics,
get "The Physics of Musical Instruments" by Neville Fletcher and Thomas
Rossing.  Very in depth, with very technical descriptions of physical
principles of most musical instruments; requires college-level physics
and calculus knowledge to get the most out of it.  A book that doesn't
require as much technical background, but covers most of the same idea,
is "The Science of Sound" by Thomas D. Rossing (I should probably get
that - I have the Fletcher/Rossing book, but I need to get my calculus
in better shape).

THE book on musical psychoacoustics will undoubtedly be "Music,
Cognition and Computerized Sound: An Introduction to Psychoacoustics" by
Perry R. Cook (ed).  This book stems out of an amazing course at
Stanford University, "Psychophysics and Cognitive Psychology for
Musicians," and includes contributions by most of the people (John
Chowning, Max Mathews, John Pierce, Roger Shepard) that contributed to
that course.  I took the course in the winter of 1990, when Max Mathews
taught it; it helped cement an obsession with this stuff that continues
to this day.  Shepard tones rule!!!  The Perry R. Cook book will be out
soon (supposedly in March 1999, which is now, so who knows when it will
really come out).

Sean Costello (who finally suceeded in getting a "Shepard tone/Risset
Glissando/Barberpole" phaser to work in Csound.  Ahhh, what a sound!)