Baltes Felix, Chemnitz Leon, Lange Elke B
Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt 60322, Germany.
Software Technology Group, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt 64289, Germany.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2023 Aug 1;154(2):1028-1040. doi: 10.1121/10.0020667.
Distortion of sound is an important tool to increase the variety of timbres in musical compositions, but perceived pleasantness of distortion is understudied, and studies are limited to guitar practices in rock and metal music. This study applied a more systematic approach, using synthetic timbre and creating an audio-plugin that realized nonlinear symmetric and asymmetric distortion. Participants evaluated the perceived pleasantness of isolated triads differing in distortion (undistorted, symmetric, asymmetric), tonality (minor, major), and position (low, high, wide), taking baseline differences of tonality and position into account. Perceived pleasantness decreased by distortion, and the decrease was stronger for minor than major triads and stronger for asymmetric than symmetric distortion. Position played only a minor role in the evaluations, except for stimuli in high positions. Stimulus-based analyses showed a relation between pleasantness and the variability of roughness, mean spectral centroid, and mean sound intensity. Subject-based analyses revealed a smaller decrease in pleasantness with a preference for electronic music. Importantly, some distorted triads were rated as pleasant in absolute terms: major triads with symmetric distortion in low or wide position. That is, indeed, distortion is not always categorized as unpleasant but can be perceived as pleasant.
声音失真乃是增加音乐作品中音色多样性的一项重要手段，然而，对于失真的感知愉悦度却鲜有研究，且相关研究仅限于摇滚和金属音乐中的吉他演奏实践。本研究采用了更为系统的方法，运用合成音色并创建了一个实现非线性对称和非对称失真的音频插件。参与者在考虑调性和音高位置的基线差异的情况下，对失真程度（不失真、对称、非对称）、调性（小调、大调）和音高位置（低音、高音、宽音）各异的孤立三和弦的感知愉悦度进行了评估。失真会降低感知愉悦度，且小调三和弦的降低幅度大于大调三和弦，非对称失真的降低幅度大于对称失真。除了高音位置的刺激外，音高位置在评估中仅起次要作用。基于刺激的分析表明，愉悦度与粗糙度、平均谱重心和平均声强的变化之间存在关联。基于主体的分析显示，对于偏爱电子音乐的人来说，愉悦度的降低幅度较小。重要的是，一些失真的三和弦在绝对意义上被评为愉悦：低音或宽音位置具有对称失真的大调三和弦。也就是说，实际上，失真并非总是被归类为不愉快，而是可以被感知为愉悦的。
