Influence of Temporal Attributes in Timbre Streaming

Temporal characteristics of signals as rise time has been studied showing to be a significant cue for the perceptual organization of complex tone sequences. The perceptual contributions of spectral synchronicity and temporal envelopes of complex tone sequences were investigated in this study considering variations in the amplitude distribution of four harmonics and three different onset and offset overall characteristics. The perceived differences in the timbre features were measured using the F0-tracking method, where the relative pitch of one of two dissimilar complex tones is increased or decreased until the segregation takes place. Results show that the synchrony and temporal envelope features do not have a significant importance in facilitating the segregation of the ABA triplets compared with the AAA monotimbral sequences. The pitch direction of the sequences showed to have a significant influence in streaming the timbral attributes. The musical experience of the participants showed to be significant for the segregation of some of the timbral features studied.