Musical tone and perceived dissonance

Andy Matuschak describes how the vibrations made in our ears vary between discordant and harmonious notes:

One hair cell will be stimulated over some small range of input frequencies: for instance, hairs for middle C (262 Hz), will also react to sounds between 230 Hz (roughly A?3) and 290 Hz (roughly D4). We’d say, then, that the critical bandwidth at middle C is around 60 Hz. Researchers have found that the bandwidth of a given hair equates to around a whole step on the western musical scale, basically the whole way up and down the keyboard.

Even though scientists haven’t yet worked out why this vibration affects us psychologically, he analyses how the harmonics produced when playing an instrument lead to discordant noises.

(via @atnan)

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About Matt

I’m a technology nerd, husband and father of four, living in beautiful Sydney, Australia.

My passion is building technology products that make the world a better place. In 2021, I started Mawson Rovers to develop robotics and software for space exploration. Prior to this, I led product teams at Atlassian to create collaboration tools for 15 years.

I'm also a startup advisor and investor, with an interest in advancing the Australian space industry. You can read more about my work on my LinkedIn profile.

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