Page 41 - Fall 2008

Books and Publications
Dick Stern
Applied Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University PO Box 30, State College, Pennsylvania 16804
Acoustics Today welcomes contributions for “Books and Publications.” There is no charge for this service. Submissions of about 250 words that may be edited in MSWord or plain text files should be e-mailed to <acousticstoday@aip.org>. Cover graphics should accompany the text and must be at least 300 dpi. Please send the text and graphics in separate files.
Book Title: The Physics and Psychophysics of Music: An Introduction, Fourth Edition
Author: Juan G. Roederer
Publisher: Springer
ISBN 978-0-387-09470-0 Pages: 228
Illustrations: 125 Binding: Softcover
This introductory text deals with the physical systems and biological processes that intervene in what we broadly call “music.” It analyzes what physical properties of sound patterns are associated with what psychological sensations of music. It describes how these sound patterns are actually pro- duced in musical instruments, how they propagate through the environ- ment, and how they are detected by the ear and interpreted in the brain. Without using complicated mathematics, the author weaves a close mesh between the disciplines of acoustics, psychophysics, and neurobiology. He
offers an integral picture of not only the science of music, but also the “music of science,” that is, the beauty and excitement of scientific research, reasoning, and understanding. The fourth edition incorporates recent research on tone generation in musical instruments and latest findings in brain science, including updated coverage of psy- chophysics and brain function relevant to music perception, new results from tomographic imaging, and new understanding of the neural processes responsible for human consciousness and the emotional response of the brain to music.
Editor’s Note—The items printed in “Books and Publications” are reported for informational purposes only and are not nec- essarily endorsements by the Editor, Acoustics Today, or the Acoustical Society of America.
40 Acoustics Today, October 2008