Universal property of our hearing Bashny.Net

Our ears are arranged in such a way that the rhythm we feel it is best at low frequencies.

What are the musical traditions we would take, be it Indonesian gamelan or modern electronics, one can observe a common feature – the presence of the bass line that sets the rhythm. Versatility bass rhythms suggests that there is in the mechanism of perception of music – obviously, the human ear can best hear the rhythmic figure, if they belong to low frequencies.

To test this hypothesis, neuroscientists from the canadian McMaster University chose 35 volunteers and asked them to listen to two musical phrases at different frequencies. But sometimes when listening to sounds at low frequencies timing was off by 50 milliseconds, and sometimes the same thing happened with high-frequency sounds. While listening to the researchers using EEG monitored brain activity of volunteers. And it turned out that the brain reacts stronger when knocked out of rhythm it low-frequency sounds. That is, we become more aware of rhythmic errors if the rhythm set by the bass.





In another embodiment of the experience of the person asked drumming his fingers in the rhythm of the music. In this case, how to write Laurel Trainor (Laurel J. Trainor) and her colleagues вProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the better ear caught a change in pace, if it took place in the low frequencies, and the fingers more specifically, it followed the bass rhythmic pattern. Which again suggests greater receptivity of our ears (and auditory analyzer) to the rhythm precisely at low frequencies. Among the participants were those who have never played music specifically – apparently, hypersensitivity to the bass rhythm is a universal attribute of our hearing, and performing practice nothing to do with it.

So the answer to the question "why to use rhythm bass" is: because the human ear feels the low-frequency rhythm. Of course, in all musical traditions, we find examples of rhythm form a high frequency sound, the rhythmic feeling focused, apparently, still at low frequency. What anatomical and neurophysiological features are the basis of this phenomenon remains to be seen. The authors believe that it is all the structural features of the cochlea of the inner ear, but, of course, should not be discounted, and the possible contribution of higher cortical centers responsible for hearing.

Source: nkj.ru