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I am studying an issue in musical acoustics pertaining to the
way the waveforms of musical instruments interact when they
are played concurrently.  Several musicians report that certain
instruments "soften" others.  The most frequent examples involve
the flute:  "the flute softens the oboe."

Most flute tones are accompanied by a fairly high level of noise
which arises from the excitation source of the instrument.  I am
entertaining the idea that a masking phenomenon is involved.
I am already acquainted with masking studies in general.
I would like to know, however, if any studies exist invloving
qualitative judgments of masking situations.  For example, if
subjects were asked to describe the quality of a signal first in 
quiet and then in the presence of some masker, using semantic 
descriptors (bright, dark, rich, etc.).

If you know of any such studies I would be grateful to hear 
of any citations to articles.  Or, if you know of any researchers
who are investigating this area, I would appreciate hearing who
they are, and where I might contact them.

Thank you,
Greg Sandell
Ph.D. student in Music Theory, Northwestern University
sandell@ils.nwu.edu 

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Greg Sandell
sandell@ils.nwu.edu