Defining Timbre



International Standards Organization &
American National Standards Institute:


"Timbre is that attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which a listener can judge that two sounds similarly presented and having the same loudness and pitch are dissimilar."

-ANSI S1.1-1960(R1976)-12.9




Many researchers have commented on the difficulty of studying timbre
(e.g., Krumhansl, 1989; Hajda, Kendall, Carterette & Harshberger, 1997)