Music, Cognition, and Computerized Sound: An Introduction to Psychoacoustics

Product Description

The first book to provide comprehensive introductory coverage of the multiple topics encompassed under psychoacoustics.
How hearing works and how the brain processes sounds entering the ear to provide the listener with useful information are of great interest to psychologists, cognitive scientists, and musicians. However, while a number of books have concentrated on individual aspects of this field, known as psychoacoustics, there has been no comprehensive introductory coverage of the multiple topics encompassed under the term. Music, Cognition, and Computerized Sound is the first book to provide that coverage, and it does so via a unique and useful approach.
The book begins with introductory chapters on the basic physiology and functions of the ear and auditory sections of the brain, then proceeds to discuss numerous topics associated with the study of psychoacoustics, including cognitive psychology and the physics of sound. The book has a particular emphasis on music and computerized sound. An accompanying download includes many sound examples to help explicate the text and is available with the code included in the book at http://mitpress.mit.edu/mccs. To download sound samples, you can obtain a unique access code by emailing digitalproducts-cs@mit.edu or calling 617-253-2889 or 800-207-8354 (toll-free in the U.S. and Canada).The contributing authors include John Chowning, Perry R. Cook, Brent Gillespie, Daniel J. Levitin, Max Mathews, John Pierce, and Roger Shepard.

Review

This volume provides a fine, readable introduction to many topics related to music perception and computer music in a way that neatly complements other current texts. Written in a fresh, approachable style, but having significant scholarly depth, it will prove useful both as a textbook and for individuals interested in this burgeoning field of research.―
Richard Ashley, Department of Music, Northwestern University

About the Author

Perry R. Cook is Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Princeton University, with a joint appointment in Music.

Daniel J. Levitin is Founding Dean of Arts and Humanities at the Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute and James McGill Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience and Music at McGill University. He is the author of four bestselling books, including
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession.

Roger N. Shepard is Professor of Psychology, Stanford University