Timbre

音色

The attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which a listener can judge the dissimilarity between sounds of otherwise identical pitch, loudness and length; sometimes spelled tambre or tamber. Acoustically, the sensation of timbre derives from the set of harmonics involved in the production of a tone. The best examples can be found in the characteristic timbres, or ‘tonal qualities’, of different instruments of the orchestra; but a similar set of timbres can be established to distinguish between the frequency characteristics of individual sounds (such as vowels, fricatives) or individual speakers (as one of the features of voice quality). An alternative term, more widely used in the context of segmental studies, is quality, as in vowel quality.

指一种听觉特性，听者可凭此判断两个在音高、响度和音长上都相同的音还有什么差别。有时拼作tambre或tamber。声学上讲，对音色的感觉来自产生一个音调时涉及的一组谐波。最好的例子是不同的管弦乐器特有的音色或“音调音质”；但个别音（如元音、擦音）或个别说话人的频率特点也可靠一组类似的音色来区别（作为嗓音音质特征之一）。在音段研究中使用较广泛的可替换术语是音质，如元音音质。