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Applied Sciences
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Musical Acoustics and Sound Perception
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Musical Acoustics and Sound Perception

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Acoustics and Vibrations".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 1599

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Spyros Polychronopoulos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Music Technology and Acoustics, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74133 Rethymno, Greece
Interests: acoustic levitation; musical instrument simulation; room acoustics
Dr. Ana Maria Barbancho

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
ATIC Research Group, ITIS Software, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
Interests: digital signal processing; musical acoustics; EEG-NIRS processing and new educational methods
Dr. Andrea Santoni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Engineering, University of Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
Interests: acoustics and vibroacoustics; wave propagation; sound absorption and sound radiation; elastic and porous material characterization; computational acoustics; noise control engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, "Musical Acoustics and Sound Perception", aims to explore the intricate relationships between the physics of sound and its perceptual impact on listeners. We invite original research articles, reviews, and theoretical studies that delve into topics such as the acoustics of musical instruments, the simulation of musical instruments in various sound environments, psychoacoustics, and auditory perception. This collection will be valuable for researchers, educators, and professionals in the fields of music technology, acoustics, auditory science, musicology, musical instrument making, and sound engineering.

Key topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Acoustics of musical instruments;
  • Simulation of musical instruments;
  • Psychoacoustics and sound perception;
  • Auditory perception and cognition;
  • Audio signal processing;
  • Acoustic modeling in performance spaces;
  • Acoustic measurements and analysis;
  • Spatial audio perception.

Dr. Spyros Polychronopoulos
Dr. Ana Maria Barbancho
Dr. Andrea Santoni
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • musical acoustics
  • acoustic measurements
  • spatial audio
  • head-related transfer function (HRTF)
  • sound perception
  • psychoacoustics
  • auditory cognition
  • simulation
  • audio signal processing
  • finite element method (FEM)
  • boundary element method (BEM)

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 4815 KiB  
Article
Minimum Audible Angle in 3rd-Order Ambisonics in Horizontal Plane for Different Ambisonic Decoders
by Katarzyna Sochaczewska, Karolina Prawda, Paweł Małecki, Magdalena Piotrowska and Jerzy Wiciak
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(12), 6815; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15126815 - 17 Jun 2025
Viewed by 204
Abstract
As immersive audio is gaining popularity, the perceptual aspects of spatial sound reproduction become relevant. The authors investigate a measure related to spatial resolution, the Minimum Audible Angle (MAA), which is understudied in the context of Ambisonics. This study examines MAA thresholds in [...] Read more.
As immersive audio is gaining popularity, the perceptual aspects of spatial sound reproduction become relevant. The authors investigate a measure related to spatial resolution, the Minimum Audible Angle (MAA), which is understudied in the context of Ambisonics. This study examines MAA thresholds in the horizontal plane in three ambisonic decoders—the Sample Ambisonic Decoder (SAD), Energy-Preserving Ambisonic Decoder (EPAD), and All-Round Ambisonic Decoder (AllRAD). The results demonstrate that the decoder type influences spatial resolution, with the EPAD exhibiting superior performance in MAA thresholds (1.24∘ at 0∘ azimuth) compared to the SAD and AllRAD. These differences reflect the discrepancies in the decoders’ energy vector distribution and angular error. The MAA values remain consistent between decoders up to 30∘ azimuth but diverge significantly beyond this range, especially in the 60∘–135∘ region corresponding to the cone of confusion. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for spatial audio applications based on ambisonic technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Musical Acoustics and Sound Perception)
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14 pages, 722 KiB  
Article
Acoustic Analysis and Perceptual Evaluation of Second Language Cantonese Tones Produced by Advanced Mandarin-Speaking Learners
by Yike Yang, Jie Hou, Yue Zou and Dong Han
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(12), 6590; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15126590 - 11 Jun 2025
Viewed by 327
Abstract
The tonal system of Cantonese is very different from that of Mandarin, which creates potential challenges for Mandarin speakers when learning Cantonese. The aim of this study was to explore second language (L2) production of Cantonese tones by advanced learners whose first language [...] Read more.
The tonal system of Cantonese is very different from that of Mandarin, which creates potential challenges for Mandarin speakers when learning Cantonese. The aim of this study was to explore second language (L2) production of Cantonese tones by advanced learners whose first language (L1) is Mandarin. Forty-one informants participated in a recording experiment to provide production data of Cantonese tones. The speech data were measured acoustically using the computer software Praat (Version 6.3.10) and were evaluated perceptually by native Cantonese speakers. The relationship between the acoustic analysis and perceptual evaluation was also explored. The acoustic and perceptual evaluations confirmed that, while the tones that the Mandarin learners of Cantonese produced were non-native-like, their production of the Cantonese T1 and T2 was good in general. Furthermore, the accuracy of the perceptual evaluations could be predicted based on the acoustic features of the L2 tones. Our findings are in line with hypotheses in current speech learning models, and demonstrate that familiar phonetic categories are easier to acquire than are unfamiliar ones. To provide a more complete picture of L2 speech acquisition, future research should investigate L2 tone acquisition using both production and perception data obtained from participants with a greater variety of L1s. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Musical Acoustics and Sound Perception)
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Other

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41 pages, 1249 KiB  
Systematic Review
Audio Features in Education: A Systematic Review of Computational Applications and Research Gaps
by Federico Pardo, Óscar Cánovas and Félix J. García Clemente
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(12), 6911; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15126911 - 19 Jun 2025
Viewed by 325
Abstract
This systematic review synthesizes 82 peer-reviewed studies published between 2014 and 2024 on the use of audio features in educational research. We define audio features as descriptors extracted from audio recordings of educational interactions, including low-level acoustic signals (e.g., pitch and MFCCs), speaker-based [...] Read more.
This systematic review synthesizes 82 peer-reviewed studies published between 2014 and 2024 on the use of audio features in educational research. We define audio features as descriptors extracted from audio recordings of educational interactions, including low-level acoustic signals (e.g., pitch and MFCCs), speaker-based metrics (e.g., talk-time and participant ratios), and linguistic indicators derived from transcriptions. Our analysis contributes to the field in three key ways: (1) it offers targeted mapping of how audio features are extracted, processed, and functionally applied within educational contexts, covering a wide range of use cases from behavior analysis to instructional feedback; (2) it diagnoses recurrent limitations that restrict pedagogical impact, including the scarcity of actionable feedback, low model interpretability, fragmented datasets, and limited attention to privacy; (3) it proposes actionable directions for future research, including the release of standardized, anonymized feature-level datasets, the co-design of feedback systems involving pedagogical experts, and the integration of fine-tuned generative AI to translate complex analytics into accessible, contextualized recommendations for teachers and learners. While current research demonstrates significant technical progress, its educational potential is yet to be translated into real-world educational impact. We argue that unlocking this potential requires shifting from isolated technical achievements to ethically grounded pedagogical implementations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Musical Acoustics and Sound Perception)
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