AURAL DETERMINATION OF THE STRIKE NOTE OF A BELL

摘要

The most important characteristic of a bell is its strike note, the subjective sensation of pitch generated within the auditory system. Strike note in most cases does not correspond to the frequency of any of the normal modes of the bell. The relationship between the strike note and the objective characteristics of a bell sound (partial frequencies, relative amplitude ratios of the partials and their change over time) is still an unsolved mystery of psychoacoustics. Before any attempt of resolving it, the idea was to examine the consistency of the results obtained in listening tests under various conditions. For that purpose, 4 listening tests with 22 recorded bell sounds were performed to 10 subjects by combining different listening conditions (with headphones and with loudspeakers) and different result-expression methods (comparison method and vocal reproduction). The results of the performed tests are described in this paper.