AUDITORY STREAM SEGREGATION BY MUSICAL TIMBRE - EFFECTS OF STATIC ANDDYNAMIC ACOUSTIC ATTRIBUTES

Two experiments examined the influence of timbre on auditory stream se gregation. In Experiment 1, listeners heard sequences of orchestral to nes equated for pitch and loudness, and they rated how strongly the in struments segregated. Multidimensional scaling analyses of these ratin gs revealed that segregation was based on the static and dynamic acous tic attributes that influenced similarity judgments in a previous expe riment (P. Iverson & C.L. Krumhansl, 1993). In Experiment 2, listeners heard interleaved melodies and tried to recognize the melodies played by a target timbre. The results extended the findings of Experiment 1 to tones varying in pitch. Auditory stream segregation appears to be influenced by gross differences in static spectra and by dynamic attri butes, including attack duration and spectral flux. These findings sup port a Gestalt explanation of stream segregation and provide evidence against a peripheral channel model.