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Related Experiment Videos

Sound Properties Associated With Equiluminant Colours.

Giles Hamilton-Fletcher1,2, Christoph Witzel3, David Reby1

  • 1School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.

Multisensory Research
|July 10, 2019
PubMed
Summary

Higher sound frequencies are linked to brighter colors, and specific frequencies consistently produce yellow hues, revealing new sound-color links. This research explores cross-modal correspondences and synesthesia.

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Area of Science:

  • Cross-modal perception
  • Psychoacoustics
  • Color science

Background:

  • Common associations exist between sound properties and color (e.g., pitch and lightness).
  • The influence of sound on color chroma and hue, while controlling for lightness, remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how sound frequency and loudness influence perceived color chroma and hue.
  • To identify context-independent sound-color correspondences.

Main Methods:

  • Participants adjusted physically equiluminant colors to match specific sounds (pure tones, complex sine waves, vocal timbres).
  • Sound properties manipulated included frequency, loudness, and spectral composition.
  • Color perception was assessed based on participant adjustments.
Keywords:
Correspondencescolourhearingsoundvision

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Main Results:

  • Increased sound frequency correlated with increased color chroma across various sound types.
  • Increased loudness of pure tones also led to increased chroma.
  • Hue associations varied: low frequencies correlated with blue, progressing to yellow around 800 Hz. Complex sounds with high frequencies consistently evoked yellow hues.

Conclusions:

  • Pitch-chroma associations are flexible across different sound contexts.
  • Frequencies above 800 Hz consistently elicit yellow hues, regardless of other sound characteristics.
  • Findings offer insights into cross-modal correspondences, synesthesia, and sensory substitution.