"nerves that fire together, wire together" - ha, that's quite a profound statement. I've been thinking recently how we manage to hear harmonics as one sound without preexisting algorithms in our brain to detect them, and this is probably the answer. Edit. This also means we hear sounds differently. Someone who listens much to classical music hears harmonics really well, but someone who listens to sounds with different aharmonic structure, will learn to hear those aharmonic patterns as highly musical.
So there are 16,000 neurons in the ear that perform something like FFT with 16k bins over a 100ms sliding time frame. Now imagine there is a 2nd layer where each neuron is watching the corresponding neuron in the 1st layer and when that one fires, it looks up what other neurons are firing at the same time. This correlation event is recorded somewhere inside the neuron. After listening to lots of sounds, the 2nd layer neuron will notice a simple pattern: when its frequency fires, neurons corresponding to 2x, 3x, etc. frequencies also fire. As a result, the 2nd layer neuron fires upon seeing a harmonic pattern.
Why does someone that listens to classical hear harmonics (I'm still not sure whether you mean tonal harmonies or harmonics aka timbre) better than someone who doesn't?
Sure, maybe they'd be better at picking out a bassoon in the mix than a metal fan, and a metal fan might be able to tell the difference between a Jackson guitar and a ESP guitar than the classical fan, but that's just due to familiarity, not their overall sense of hearing.
I don't think any serious musician would agree with you whether you're talking harmony or harmonics. However, listening to music in general will definitely allow you to hear different harmonic intervals better than if you didn't, but this is again just due to familiarity/ear training and doesn't overlap into your overall ability to hear.
We just use mnemonics. For example, Amen = 4th twinkle twinkle = 5th NBC = 6th etc.
Hearing is a process that extends from your ear all the way through your brain. The hard line you think exists between “hear” and “familiarity” or “ear training” doesn’t exist. The last few years I’ve been spending around Vietnamese, and while I still speak relatively little of it, I’ve been able to slowly adjust to be able to separate out sounds and words that previously sounded like one big mess.
And that's something completely different. Language and music use similar parts of the brain, but you're just mashing audio perception together in a way that just isn't related and is not what the article is talking about.
You’re being overly strict in defining a general word, in a way that worsens understanding.
We aren’t computers with parts. There isn’t a microphone connected to a DSP, there’s a neural net on every level from signal processing up to whole experience.
When someone says “hear” they mean almost all of that pipeline, not just the mic quality.
Picking out a bassoon in the mix is hearing better, at the level that matters.
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"nerves that fire together, wire together" - ha, that's quite a profound statement. I've been thinking recently how we manage to hear harmonics as one sound without preexisting algorithms in our brain to detect them, and this is probably the answer. Edit. This also means we hear sounds differently. Someone who listens much to classical music hears harmonics really well, but someone who listens to sounds with different aharmonic structure, will learn to hear those aharmonic patterns as highly musical.
Harmonics or harmonies? Your edit is nonsense either way.
So there are 16,000 neurons in the ear that perform something like FFT with 16k bins over a 100ms sliding time frame. Now imagine there is a 2nd layer where each neuron is watching the corresponding neuron in the 1st layer and when that one fires, it looks up what other neurons are firing at the same time. This correlation event is recorded somewhere inside the neuron. After listening to lots of sounds, the 2nd layer neuron will notice a simple pattern: when its frequency fires, neurons corresponding to 2x, 3x, etc. frequencies also fire. As a result, the 2nd layer neuron fires upon seeing a harmonic pattern.
I wouldn't be so quick to call nonsense. Spending time listening to certain things most definitely affects your ability to pick out specific details.
All heavy metal music sounds about the same to me. But I'm sure that is not the case for fans of heavy metal.
Why does someone that listens to classical hear harmonics (I'm still not sure whether you mean tonal harmonies or harmonics aka timbre) better than someone who doesn't?
Sure, maybe they'd be better at picking out a bassoon in the mix than a metal fan, and a metal fan might be able to tell the difference between a Jackson guitar and a ESP guitar than the classical fan, but that's just due to familiarity, not their overall sense of hearing.
I don't think any serious musician would agree with you whether you're talking harmony or harmonics. However, listening to music in general will definitely allow you to hear different harmonic intervals better than if you didn't, but this is again just due to familiarity/ear training and doesn't overlap into your overall ability to hear.
We just use mnemonics. For example, Amen = 4th twinkle twinkle = 5th NBC = 6th etc.
Hearing is a process that extends from your ear all the way through your brain. The hard line you think exists between “hear” and “familiarity” or “ear training” doesn’t exist. The last few years I’ve been spending around Vietnamese, and while I still speak relatively little of it, I’ve been able to slowly adjust to be able to separate out sounds and words that previously sounded like one big mess.
And that's something completely different. Language and music use similar parts of the brain, but you're just mashing audio perception together in a way that just isn't related and is not what the article is talking about.
You’re being overly strict in defining a general word, in a way that worsens understanding.
We aren’t computers with parts. There isn’t a microphone connected to a DSP, there’s a neural net on every level from signal processing up to whole experience.
When someone says “hear” they mean almost all of that pipeline, not just the mic quality.
Picking out a bassoon in the mix is hearing better, at the level that matters.