Developmental Changes in Timbre Preferences: Understanding Musical Taste Across Childhood

Abstract

Music is a fundamental part of what makes us human and is likely shaped by both cultural and biological factors [1]. Among the various perceptual features of music, timbre stands out as especially important for distinguishing between sounds that are identical in pitch, duration, and loudness. It relies on spectral, temporal, and spectrotemporal features. Moreover, timbre enables listeners to identify sound sources such as instruments and voices, convey emotion, recognize actions, and serves as a key structural element in music [2].

Understanding how perception of timbre develops across childhood is essential for connecting its study to broader questions of cognitive and perceptual development. Research shows that basic abilities to discriminate and categorize timbre emerge in early development [3], and its perception is biologically grounded [2], yet it might continue to evolve with age and experience, similar to other aspects of musicality. Thus, this developmental perspective frames timbre not as a static perceptual attribute, but as a dynamic one, opening up a useful starting point for exploring how musical preferences begin to emerge.

This research is guided by the following questions: Do children show preferences for specific timbral qualities? Additionally, do these preferences shift with development, suggesting a biologically inherited foundation for musical taste that is later shaped by cultural influences?

To address this, the research focuses on middle childhood (ages 5–12; N = 60, with 20 participants per age group) and includes an adult control group (N = 20). Workshops on the science of sound are conducted in class groups to disseminate the research for educational purposes. Afterwards, a place preference paradigm; a method commonly used in studies of auditory preferences, is applied, where participants explore an environment with bright, rough, and synthetic timbres. Time spent near each sound source is measured as an indicator of preference, allowing for natural, spontaneous exploration. Following this, participants complete a listener survey.

We hypothesize that bright timbres might be initially preferred due to their emotional significance and possible biological basis. Preference for synthetic timbres might increase with age, as individuals gain exposure to artificial sound textures. In contrast, rough timbres could be less favored, possibly because of their harsher and more dissonant characteristics.

Therefore, anchored in this design, this study sheds light on how timbre preferences evolve throughout childhood. Insight into these developmental patterns may provide a window into the ontogeny of musical taste, grounded in the foundations of sound perception and cognition.

References

[1] B. Wagner and M. Hoeschele, “The links between pitch, timbre, musicality, and social bonding from cross-species research,” Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, vol. 17, pp. 13–32, 2022.

[2] B. O. T. Bellmann and R. Asano, “Neural correlates of musical timbre: an ALE meta-analysis of neuroimaging data,” Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 18, p. 1373232, 2024.

[3] S. C. Creel, “The sound of timbre reigns: Auditory sequence discrimination in 3–5-year-old children,” Auditory Perception & Cognition, vol. 6, no. 3–4, pp. 186–214, 2023.