sandell@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Greg Sandell) (04/18/91)
I am studying an issue in musical acoustics pertaining to the way the waveforms of musical instruments interact when they are played concurrently. Several musicians report that certain instruments "soften" others. The most frequent examples involve the flute: "the flute softens the oboe." Most flute tones are accompanied by a fairly high level of noise which arises from the excitation source of the instrument. I am entertaining the idea that a masking phenomenon is involved. I am already acquainted with masking studies in general. I would like to know, however, if any studies exist invloving qualitative judgments of masking situations. For example, if subjects were asked to describe the quality of a signal first in quiet and then in the presence of some masker, using semantic descriptors (bright, dark, rich, etc.). If you know of any such studies I would be grateful to hear of any citations to articles. Or, if you know of any researchers who are investigating this area, I would appreciate hearing who they are, and where I might contact them. Thank you, Greg Sandell Ph.D. student in Music Theory, Northwestern University sandell@ils.nwu.edu -- Greg Sandell sandell@ils.nwu.edu