The statistical structure of human speech sounds predicts musical universals.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
The similarity of musical scales and consonance judgments across human populations has no generally accepted explanation. Here we present evidence that these aspects of auditory perception arise from the statistical structure of naturally occurring periodic sound stimuli. An analysis of speech sounds, the principal source of periodic sound stimuli in the human acoustical environment, shows that the probability distribution of amplitude-frequency combinations in human utterances predicts both the structure of the chromatic scale and consonance ordering. These observations suggest that what we hear is determined by the statistical relationship between acoustical stimuli and their naturally occurring sources, rather than by the physical parameters of the stimulus per se.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Schwartz, DA; Howe, CQ; Purves, D
Published Date
- August 2003
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 23 / 18
Start / End Page
- 7160 - 7168
PubMed ID
- 12904476
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC6740660
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1529-2401
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0270-6474
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1523/jneurosci.23-18-07160.2003
Language
- eng