Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Physics
The Effect Of Inharmonic Partials On Pitch Of Piano Tones, Brian E. Anderson, William J. Strong
The Effect Of Inharmonic Partials On Pitch Of Piano Tones, Brian E. Anderson, William J. Strong
Faculty Publications
Piano tones have partials whose frequencies are sharp relative to harmonic values. A listening test was conducted to determine the effect of inharmonicity on pitch for piano tones in the lowest three octaves of a piano. Nine real tones from the lowest three octaves of a piano were analyzed to obtain frequencies, relative amplitudes, and decay rates of their partials. Synthetic inharmonic tones were produced from these results. Synthetic harmonic tones, each with a twelfth of a semitone increase in the fundamental, were also produced. A jury of 21 listeners matched the pitch of each synthetic inharmonic tone to one …