Sound objects – Auditory objects – Musical objects

The auditory system transforms patterns of sound energy into perceptual objects but the precise definition of an ‘auditory object’ is much debated. In the context of music listening, Pierre Schaeffer argued that ‘sound objects’ are the fundamental perceptual units in ‘musical objects’. In this paper, I review recent neurocognitive research suggesting that the auditory system is sensitive to structural information about real-world objects. Instead of focusing solely on perceptual sound features as determinants of auditory objects, I propose that real-world object properties are inherent in the organization of the auditory system and as such in music perception as well.