Date of Award
Fall 2025
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
School of Music
First Advisor
Daniel Sweaney
Abstract
Difference tones, also known as distortion product otoacoustic emissions, are the result of active phenomena in the human cochlea during the conversion of sound waves into bioelectrical signals. Difference tones make it possible to explore alternative musical tuning systems beyond the twelve-tone, equally tempered regime. Musicians have investigated difference tones since the 18th Century in Euro-American musical contexts, but their application has so far been limited in scope. Advances in science, technology, and music theory from the late 19th Century through the early 21st Century have given present-day violists the opportunity to more fully understand the virtues of difference tones in practicing and performing. Providing violists with an understanding of the phenomenon of difference tones and just intonation can more effectively prepare their intonation skills and prime the achievement of more consonant intervals in their playing.
Rights
© 2025, Calj Green Umezono
Recommended Citation
Umezono, C. G.(2025). Hearing the Difference: Just Intonation Techniques Utilizing Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions in Viola Performance. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/8677