Subject: voice tracking From: Piet Vos <vos(at)NICI.KUN.NL> Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2002 12:06:51 +0200Hi, Could anybody tell me about the availability of empirical/experimental data about the following phenomenon. When listening to plural voiced music, say a simple choral or hymn, it is quite easy, if not natural / default, to track the soprano voice, whereas it requires attention (effort, training..) to track lower voices. Similarly so, there exist much more concerto's for a high pitched solo instrument (eg violin) and orchestra than for combinations with low-pitched instruments. It's natural to suppose that the reasons are eventually found in psycho-acoustic constraints such as the anisotropic aural sensitivity for auditory frequencies and masking effects. This question was recently addressed also to the Psymus list, dedicated to music perception and performance issues, and received a few relevant answers on the possible mechanisms behind the phenomena, but is was suggested that no empirical research data are available. Thank you in advance for your help, Piet Vos -- Piet G. Vos section Perception NICI, U. Nijmegen P.O.Box 9104 6500 HE Nijmegen NL tel: +31 24 36126 31/20; fax: +31 24 361 60 66; vos(at)nici.kun.nl home-page: http://www.nici.kun.nl/~vos et altissimus humilisimum facere debet