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"A cello is a rather large item, so it is no mean feat to make even
one disappear, let alone an entire section. Yet this is what happens
(acoustically, at least) in certain concert halls around the world,
thanks to the traditional configuration of the symphony orchestra.
The cello benches, sited conventionally to the conductor’s (and the
audience’s) right, lie in a perceptual shadow, cast by our brains’
intrinsic predilection to hear deep voices via the left ear. The
acoustically optimal seating arrangement (not so far widely adopted)
would place the audience above the orchestra—suspended upside down
from the ceiling. The case of the disappearing cellos with its
surprising solution is one of a host of strange phenomena that grace
Diana Deutsch’s strangely beautiful book, <em>Musical Illusions and
Phantom Words.</em> The book is subtitled, ‘How music and speech
unlock mysteries of the brain’, and a claim as bold as that surely
deserves to be challenged."<br>
<br>
from the review below (which is very positive)<br>
<br>
Has anyone here read this book?<br>
<br>
<br>
TG<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<a class="title"
href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190206833.001.0001/oso-9780190206833">Musical
Illusions and Phantom Words: How Music and Speech Unlock Mysteries
of the Brain</a><br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190206833.001.0001/oso-9780190206833">https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190206833.001.0001/oso-9780190206833</a><br>
<br>
sample chapter on the tritone illusion:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190206833.001.0001/oso-9780190206833-chapter-6">https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190206833.001.0001/oso-9780190206833-chapter-6</a><br>
<br>
positive book review:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/142/11/3655/5575912">https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/142/11/3655/5575912</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<strong>Diana Deutsch</strong> is Professor of Psychology at the
University of California, San Diego. A leading researcher on the
psychology of music, she is noted for her discovery of musical
illusions, and her work on perfect pitch. Deutsch is editor of the
book <em>The Psychology of Music</em>, and creator of the compact<br>
discs <em>Musical Illusions and Paradoxes</em>, and <em>Phantom
Words and Other Curiosities</em>. <br>
Among many other honors, she was awarded the Gold Medal Award by the
Audio Engineering Society.<br>
<br>
---------------<br>
tg<br>
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