Percepiual and Motor skill^, 1979, 49; 324-326. @ Perceptual and Motor Skills 1979

HUMAN SOUND FREQUENCY PREFERENCES ROBIN F. PATCHETT

Summdsy.-205 subjects each chose a "most pleasant" sound delivered through an earphone by turning the control knob on a continuously variable audio oscillator. Most subjects chose a frequency in a relatively narrow (approximately 350 Hz) band centered on 399 Hz. The preferences did not appear to be influenced by sex or age. Studying perceptual processes by observing consistencies in the choices subjects make between stimuli has increased our understanding of perception in a variety of species. For instance, newly hatched chickens prefer to peck at small rounded objects and therefore can discriminate these from other visual forms (Fantz. 1 9 5 7 ) . Similarly, newly hatched ducklings prefer a green-blue hue (Oppenheim, 1968), newborn rhesus monkeys show preferences by visually fixating particular visual targets as against others (Fantz, 1 9 6 5 ) , and it has been shown by similar techniques that human neonates attend to particular selected aspects of their surroundings (e.g., Fantz & Miranda, 1 9 7 5 ) . Findings such as these with perceptually naive subjects suggest that a propensity for the organization of some particular sensory data might be present at birth. Then, too, among the many more obviously acquired likes and dislikes which adults show for particular stimulus characteristics, there are some which appear to occur with such universality that it is plausible to suggesc chat such behavior patterns could be based on the common biology of the species. For instance, although there are some exceptions which can be traced to cultural factors (Choungourian. 1 9 6 8 ) , adult humans generally show preferences for hues of blue and red over other colours of the spectrum (Guilford & Smith., 1-9 5-9 .) . Formal research into stimulus preference has been confined almost entirely to studies of visual preferences. With a view to extending this research to another sense modality. the following experiment was designed to explore the possibility that human subjects have preferences in common for particular aspects of auditory stimuli, in this instance, sound frequency. The subjecrs were 205 students requested to panicipate as they were progressing through university registration procedures. Selection of subjects was made to provide nearly equal proportions of males and females of a wide range of ages. Prospective subjects with known hearing deficiencies were excluded. There were 106 males and 99 females whose ages ranged from 19 to 56 yr. A continuously variable sound frequency oscillator (Bruel & Kjaer Type 1024) was s e t to generate 7 0 2 3 dB SPL, checked with an artificial ear and sound meter (Bruel & Kjaer Types 4152 and 2 2 0 3 ) , through the frequencies 100 Hz to 4000 Hz through a single earphone (Telephonics T D H 3 9 ) . A cloth flap was fixed over the oscillator dial to prevent the subjects from being influenced in their choices by the visual features of the dial. Each subject was requested to reach under the cloth flap and by turning the control knob, to select the sound which was the most pleasant. The control knob was set either fully to the left or to the right before each subject's trial so every other subject would begin turning the dial from the opposite end of the frequency spectrum. 'Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6.

H U M A N SOUND FREQUENCY PREFERENCES

FREQUENCY IN HERTZ

FIG. 1. Sound frequency preferences of 201 subjects grouped into 100-Hz blocks Only four subjects chose frequencies below 100 H z or above 4000 Hz and these cases were rejected from the data analysis because it was considered very possible that their choices had been made o n the basis of loudness rather than pitch. T h e histogram (Fig. 1) depicts the resulrs. T h e median of the frequencies chosen was 399 Hz while the first quartile point lay at 280 H z with the third quarrile at 6 0 1 Hz. A Mann-Whitney U test performed on the data divided by sex indicated no signifi.05) in preferences for pitch between males and females. Data cant difference ( p from the subjects grouped according to age in blocks of five years were analyzed with a Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance and no significant effects of age were noted. A further Mann-Whitney U test showed no difference between the subjects who began their search for the most pleasant sound from the low end of the frequency spectrum and those who began at the high end. T h e experimenter was interested to note that the vagueness of the instructions to the subjects gave very few subjects cause for concern. Most subjects selected what was to them the most pleasant sound quickly and confidently. That most subjects chose a frequency within a relatively narrow band centered on about 400 Hz was intriguing, especially in rhe light of a scale of biological rhythm devised by H o l t p a n s e n ( 1 9 6 0 ) . By extending the rule of rhythmic volumetric doubling of cell nuclei to include a time factor, Holt-Hansen derived a scale of time intervals based o n 24 hr. Steps o n the scale coincide with such empirically familiar time intervals as the alpha-rhythm and human sleep and rest-activity cycles. One of the steps o n the scale is at approximately 400 Hz. T h e finding that there were n o differences between the choices of frequency made by the various age groups examined gives some further support to the possibility that such preferences may be biologically rather than culturally determined. It is difficult to imagine how at least two generations of a multi-cultural Northern Ontario community v~ould learn to prefer the same sound frequency band. However, to establish whether these results are representative of those of humans in general, further cross-cultural studies need to be made.

Human sound frequency preferences.

Percepiual and Motor skill^, 1979, 49; 324-326. @ Perceptual and Motor Skills 1979 HUMAN SOUND FREQUENCY PREFERENCES ROBIN F. PATCHETT Summdsy.-205...
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