Honing, H. (2005). Timing is tempo-specific, Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference, 359-362, Barcelona: UPF.

Abstract

This study is concerned with the question whether there is perceptual invariance of expressive timing under tempo-transformation in audio recordings. This was investigated by asking listeners to distinguish between an original recording and a time-stretched (i.e. tempo-transformed) version. The original recordings were identified by a significant proportion of the participants. The results suggest that expressive timing can function as a clue in identifying a real performance. This is taken as evidence for the tempo-specific timing hypothesis, and counter evidence for the relational invariance hypothesis that predicts proportionally scaled expressive timing to be perceived natural as well. The results are discussed in the context of whether there is perceptual invariance of expressive timing under tempo transformation and possible improvements to state-of-the-art time-stretching algorithms.

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