To give the student an understanding of processes involved in the production, transmission and in the perception of sound.

Syllabus

Nature of sound: pitch, frequency and register; loudness and intensity, timbre, overtone structure, formants and envelopes. Critical band and masking. Localization and spatialisation: sound in rooms; localization of sound; echo and reverberation. Simple harmonic vibration, sound production, radiation of sound, psychophysics of audition; Sound propagation, sound in the environment, Doppler effect, movement, localization and locomotion; Sound generated by musical instruments, strings, brass wind, woodwind and percussion. Sound generated by the speaking and singing voice. Duration, energy, spectra and formants.

The physiology of listening, structure of the ear, peripheral nervous system, speech and speech-like stimuli, auditory pathways, central nervous system, auditory cortex, cortical organisms in humans, biomusicology.

Psychology of sound perception, Gestalt principles, stream segregation. Auditory scene analysis, categorical perception, context effects. Grammars of music and language; search for universals in music; linguistic vs. music theory. Introduction to psychomusicology; theory of rhythm, performance and rhythm, perception and rhythm.