Auditory Scene Analysis: the Perceptual Organization of Sound, Albert S. Bregman. MIT Press (Bradford Book), London (1990), xiii + 772 pp. c. £50, ISBN: 0-262-02297-4

Arguably the greatest single work in the history of psychology. James's analyses of habit, the nature of emotion, the phenomenology of attention, the stream of thought, the perception of space, and the multiplicity of the consciousness of self are still widely cited and incorporated into contemporary theoretical accounts of these phenomena.

The Principles of Psychology

Analytic Approaches to Twentieth-Century Music@@@Meta + Hodos and META Meta + Hodos: A Phenomenology of 20th-Century Materials and an Approach to the Study of Form@@@The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New Listening Strategies

Animated screen-based notation and visual representation of sound provide an important solution to visualising a range of musical phenomena and techniques including continuous parametrical changes, synchronisation with prerecorded audio or live processing, and nonlinear formal organisation. The limitations of human visual capabilities, however, place some constraints upon the efficacy of screen-based representation, particularly in regard to notation reading. Findings from sightreading studies exploring the manner in which notation is encoded, processed and executed are examined with the aim of identifying the perceptual and practical boundaries of presenting animated notation on screen. The development of efficient visual representation is proposed as an important requirement for alleviating the issues created by the time constraints of reading on screen. Studies in semantics and cross-modal activation are discussed as a foundation for the expansion of approaches to the visualisation of sound.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S135577181400020X

The Limitations of Representing Sound and Notation on Screen

Music and Discourse

Inspired by Denis Smalley's theoretical ideas on spectromorphology and Albert Bregman's ( 1990 ) auditory scene analysis, I began an investigation into the formation and segregation of timescales 1 in electroacoustic music. This research inevitably led me to an exploration of the factors that shape our perception of time passing and estimation of durations, where spectromorphological issues intermingle with extra-musical associations, autobiographical experiences, emotional responses, and the surrounding environment at the time of listening. Ultimately, time perception affects the structural balance of a composition. This paper, which is part of my ongoing research, examines how the perception of time is affected by the semantic meaning and the spectromorphological characteristics of sound events.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1355771810000440

Temporal associations, semantic content and source bonding

This article explores timescales within absolute and psychological times, and identifies the many factors that affect our perception of time passing and estimation of durations, which inevitably influence our perception of musical structures; in particular, it discusses listening experiences, and theoretical approaches to psychological states and emotional responses. It proposes a process according to which the time-influencing factors operate between listener and music. The discussion is approached through the lens of the electroacoustic composer and makes references to short excerpts from the author’s work and related repertoire. However, as the article discusses time in relation to sound structures, it is also relevant to other time-based sound art and music.

/pdf/timescales-and-the-factors-influencing-time-perception-asmo7ghbwu.pdf

Timescales and the Factors Influencing Time Perception

In my endeavour to try and understand the main mechanisms of time perception in electroacoustic music, I explored complexity and how it can affect our experience of timescales and passing of time. This experience ultimately influences our understanding of structures and balancing of sections, our appreciation of gestural and textural development, and the interconnection of concurrent, near and remote events. For the purpose of this research, important papers in time perception written mainly from cognitive psychologists have been examined, and relations to music perception were drawn. A list of situations where complexity may occur in electroacoustic music, with an emphasis on acousmatic music, has been compiled. The relationship between complexity and psychological time, based on theories of Hogan, Priestly and Ornstein, is followed by an examination of complexity related to various parameters of sound.

Aki Pasoulas

Papers

Temporal associations, semantic content and source bonding

Timescales and the Factors Influencing Time Perception

Stimulus Complexity and Time Judgments.