Samma Tomohiro, Honda Kazuaki, Fujii Shinya
Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan.
NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Japan.
PLoS One. 2025 Apr 29;20(4):e0321442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321442. eCollection 2025.
The sight-over-sound effect, in which visual information dominates auditory cues in musical evaluations, challenges the common belief that sound is the primary factor in music evaluation. However, the replicability of the sight-over-sound effect remains controversial across different musical genres and contexts. Here, we investigated the sight-over-sound effect using recordings from Japanese brass band competitions with carefully controlled musical pieces and camera angles. Adult participants (age: 34.81 ± 11.71 years [mean ± standard deviation]) were divided into three groups based on their brass band and musical experience. Of the 301 participants, 171 were brass band musicians (age: 33.08 ± 11.57 years), 78 were non-brass band musicians (age: 35.39 ± 13.03 years), and 52 were non-musicians (age: 39.15 ± 8.73 years). The sight-over-sound effect was observed in non-brass band musicians (Kruskal-Wallis test: p < 0.001) but was absent in brass band musicians (p = 0.48) and non-musicians (p = 0.37). These findings indicate that the sight-over-sound effect depends on musical experience; specifically, our results indicate that auditory training in brass band musicians may mitigate the visual influence. Furthermore, the absence of the sight-over-sound effect in non-musicians suggests that without specific musical training, evaluators may not consistently prioritize visual information. The present findings fill a critical gap in our understanding of multisensory integration, especially regarding how different levels of musical expertise shape evaluative processes across sensory modalities. Our results underscore the need for educational and evaluative practices to consciously balance the influences of visual and auditory cues, particularly in situations in which visual dominance may overshadow auditory quality.
视觉优于听觉效应是指在音乐评价中视觉信息比听觉线索更具主导性，这一现象挑战了声音是音乐评价主要因素的普遍观念。然而，视觉优于听觉效应在不同音乐类型和情境中的可重复性仍存在争议。在此，我们使用日本铜管乐队比赛的录音，通过精心控制音乐作品和拍摄角度来研究视觉优于听觉效应。成年参与者（年龄：34.81±11.71岁[平均值±标准差]）根据其铜管乐队经历和音乐经验被分为三组。在301名参与者中，171名是铜管乐队音乐家（年龄：33.08±11.57岁），78名是非铜管乐队音乐家（年龄：35.39±13.03岁），52名是非音乐家（年龄：39.15±8.73岁）。在非铜管乐队音乐家中观察到了视觉优于听觉效应（Kruskal - Wallis检验：p<0.001），但在铜管乐队音乐家（p = 0.48）和非音乐家（p = 0.37）中未观察到。这些发现表明视觉优于听觉效应取决于音乐经验；具体而言，我们的结果表明铜管乐队音乐家的听觉训练可能会减轻视觉影响。此外，非音乐家中不存在视觉优于听觉效应表明，没有特定音乐训练，评价者可能不会始终将视觉信息置于优先地位。本研究结果填补了我们在多感官整合理解方面的关键空白，特别是关于不同水平的音乐专业知识如何塑造跨感官模态的评价过程。我们的结果强调了教育和评价实践有意识地平衡视觉和听觉线索影响的必要性，特别是在视觉主导可能掩盖听觉质量的情况下。
