DOMINIC W. MASSARO, editor
University of California, Santa Cruz

What Are Musical Paradox and Illusion?

Musical Illusions and Paradoxes.
By Diana Deutsch. La Jolla, CA: Philomel, 1995. 23-track CD recording, $14.95.

Phantom Words and Other Curiosities.
By Diana Deutsch. La Jolla, CA: Philomel, 2003. 26-track CD recording, $14.95.

In the early documentation of a now-famous series of experiments, Diana Deutsch (1986) described an acoustic circumstance in which a particular pitch interval, between successive tones in a particular artificial timbre, produces perceptual results that we might not expect: When the pair of notes was transposed, the interval seemed to change direction. Furthermore, although individuals' changing reports were consistent as functions of pitch transposition, the pattern of change varied from listener to listener.