Identification of impact sounds by professional percussionists

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2009-04, Vol.125 (4_Supplement), p.2684-2684
• Main Authors: Liu, Ching-Ju, Lutfi, Robert
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4784258

The present study was undertaken to determine the best of the ear's ability to identify the sounds of impact produced by the simplest of resonant objects (bars, plates, and membranes). We hypothesized that best performance would be achieved by professional percussionists who have had many years experience striking such objects to achieve desired nuances in sound. Five percussionists and five nonpercussionist musicians were recruited as participants from the University of Wisconsin School of Music. Additionally, 10 nonmusicians were recruited from the University at large. In a standard two-interval, forced-choice procedure, with and without feedback, listeners were asked to judge the impact sound corresponding to: (1) the greater force of impact; (2) the harder of two mallets; (3) the denser of the two objects struck; and (4) the point of mallet contact closest to the center of the object. Sounds were synthesized according to the equations of motion derived from a simple physical model which has been used in past studies [cf. Lutfi et al., JASA 118, 393–404 (2005)]. Generally, the results provide little support for the hypothesis that professional percussionists are more adept than the rest of us at judging the properties of impact sounds. [Research supported by NIDCD.]