Bowed air columns and blown plates: Odd combinations of excitation mechanisms and resonant structures impact perception

The current study examines how interactions between excitations and resonators influence the perception of these mechanical components. Nine interactions between three excitations (bowing, blowing, striking) and three resonators (string, air column, plate) were simulated with Modalys, a digital physically inspired modeling platform. Interactions were either typical (e.g., bowed string) or atypical (e.g., bowed air column) of acoustic musical instruments. Two experiments were conducted using three exemplars of each interaction. Exemplars were created by manipulating two parameters that affect the resulting timbres for each excitation type. Two groups of listeners rated how well the exemplars resembled each excitation type (Experiment 1) or each resonator type (Experiment 2). Listeners assigned the highest resemblance ratings to the correct excitations and resonators that produced the typical interactions. For the atypical interactions, listeners assigned the highest resemblance ratings to either the correct excitation or resonator but not both. The mechanical component they correctly perceived biased perception toward the complementary component that it most typically interacts with in acoustic musical instruments. Mental models for sound source components seem to be limited by listeners’ familiarity with them.