Studies of musical instruments
As a part of our research in sound quality, we are running a project jointly with a saxophone manufacturer. The aim of the project is to devise methods for designing product sound. Since musical instruments are designed specifically to produce a desired sound, they are excellent examples to use to study the sound design process. The project is being run in cooperation with the School Of Music in Piteå who are responsible for the musical evaluations.
The project’s objectives are:
- to propose a method for designing product sound
- to use the proposed method to change the sound of a saxophone in line with musicians’ wishes
Is it possible to measure how sound is perceived?
Changing sound according to a given specification requires an understanding of how hearing works. Models of hearing’s function, known as psychoacoustic models, can be used to make simple, structured evaluations of how a sound can be expected to be perceived by the listener, The project is also evaluating the usability of existing and new psychoacoustic models when designing product sounds.
How can we verbalise the sound of an instrument?
One prerequisite for being able to change an instrument’s tone in the way desired by a musician is that the musician and the engineer are able to communicate. It is not easy to describe a tone in words. Studies have been made in the project to find suitable adjectives to describe the tone of a saxophone. These words can then be linked to physically measurable quantities by means of psychoacoustic models.
Updated: