One account has to do with the influence of labels, as imposing some kind of structure. In this case, using distinct words to refer to colours vs (typically) lack of such for sound frequencies, see for example Gary Lupyan (2012) (pdf).
But there are such labels for sound; we label individual frequencies as notes (C, D, E, et cetera), as well as overall profiles of sound (oboe, violin, piano, etc.). We also have words to describe the qualities of arbitrary sounds such as harsh, melodious, twittering, whining, thumping, and many others. I don’t think the difference between sight and hearing has to do with splitting up the space into discrete categories, since we do that for both senses.
That brings up an interesting point, though; I can’t tell the absolute pitch of a note without some thought (I cheat by comparing it to the note I know I’d make if I hummed completely without tension, which is a B, though I wish I had perfect pitch). So sounds are all relative to each other for most people, which could somehow account for them all sounding alike.
Can anyone with perfect pitch tell us whether they experience notes as being fundamentally different in the way colors usually are?
Can anyone with perfect pitch tell us whether they experience notes as being fundamentally different in the way colors usually are?
When I was a child I had perfect pitch, but as I didn’t follow a musical career, I’ve never used it, and I haven’t checked whether I can still hear a note and hit exactly the same key on the piano first time. But to me, pitch perceptions form a continuous one-dimensional space. It’s more like being able to recognise the length of things. There’s no special quality to something being a foot long rather than 11 or 13 inches; it’s just recognisably 12 inches long.
Harmonies, on the other hand, are more like colours. There are distinct qualities to major and minor triads etc., and to chord sequences.
Agreed—we do use such labels for many aspects of sounds, but with the exception of labelling musical notes, sound-related terms tend to refer to multidimensional characteristics of sounds, not just frequencies (although in many cases, related to frequency). This leads to a situation in which sound quality terms may tend to be less discrete than basic colour words; if so one would predict less categorical perception than is observed for basic colour words.
I think we can also see this same phenomenon in colour as well—once we go beyond a language’s basic colour terms where colour labels are not nearly so contrastive (mauve/fuschia?).
One account has to do with the influence of labels, as imposing some kind of structure. In this case, using distinct words to refer to colours vs (typically) lack of such for sound frequencies, see for example Gary Lupyan (2012) (pdf).
But there are such labels for sound; we label individual frequencies as notes (C, D, E, et cetera), as well as overall profiles of sound (oboe, violin, piano, etc.). We also have words to describe the qualities of arbitrary sounds such as harsh, melodious, twittering, whining, thumping, and many others. I don’t think the difference between sight and hearing has to do with splitting up the space into discrete categories, since we do that for both senses.
That brings up an interesting point, though; I can’t tell the absolute pitch of a note without some thought (I cheat by comparing it to the note I know I’d make if I hummed completely without tension, which is a B, though I wish I had perfect pitch). So sounds are all relative to each other for most people, which could somehow account for them all sounding alike.
Can anyone with perfect pitch tell us whether they experience notes as being fundamentally different in the way colors usually are?
When I was a child I had perfect pitch, but as I didn’t follow a musical career, I’ve never used it, and I haven’t checked whether I can still hear a note and hit exactly the same key on the piano first time. But to me, pitch perceptions form a continuous one-dimensional space. It’s more like being able to recognise the length of things. There’s no special quality to something being a foot long rather than 11 or 13 inches; it’s just recognisably 12 inches long.
Harmonies, on the other hand, are more like colours. There are distinct qualities to major and minor triads etc., and to chord sequences.
Agreed—we do use such labels for many aspects of sounds, but with the exception of labelling musical notes, sound-related terms tend to refer to multidimensional characteristics of sounds, not just frequencies (although in many cases, related to frequency). This leads to a situation in which sound quality terms may tend to be less discrete than basic colour words; if so one would predict less categorical perception than is observed for basic colour words.
I think we can also see this same phenomenon in colour as well—once we go beyond a language’s basic colour terms where colour labels are not nearly so contrastive (mauve/fuschia?).
I have no education in labeling sounds, but I do think I generally attach more “meaning” or structure to them than I do to colors.