Ecole Centrale Nantes
Abstract :
The study of the quality of a musical instrument, as perceived by
the musician, is a complex problem. Many subtle phenomena
are involved and several devices, or materials, are proposed to
musicians, with a noticeable commercial success for some of
them.
We are interested in a particular device: sound bridges for wind
instruments (made of two plates, clipped at a joint of a wind
instrument with a rubber band).
The objective of the work is to study if audible differences, due
to the presence of the sound bridges, can be highlighted
during trumpet playing.
An ABX test was carried out with a panel of 5 trumpet players
with various levels (from professional to advanced amateur)
and various use degrees of the bridges in their practice (from
always to not user). After a training phase, musicians were
blinded and asked to answer to several repetitions of the ABX
test in free playing conditions. Results were analyzed with the
binomial distribution and the Signal Detection Theory (SDT). In
addition, several repetitions of different notes were recorded
with and without the bridges. A spectral analysis was carried out
to test whether or not a significant effect of the acoustic
bridges can be highlighted.