What's the difference between octave and semitone?

Octave


Definition:

  • (n.) The eighth day after a church festival, the festival day being included; also, the week following a church festival.
  • (n.) The eighth tone in the scale; the interval between one and eight of the scale, or any interval of equal length; an interval of five tones and two semitones.
  • (n.) The whole diatonic scale itself.
  • (n.) The first two stanzas of a sonnet, consisting of four verses each; a stanza of eight lines.
  • (n.) A small cask of wine, the eighth part of a pipe.
  • (a.) Consisting of eight; eight.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In the postsynaptic layers, frequencies up to three octaves from the neurons' best frequency induced two-tone suppression that was sensitive to BIC.
  • (2) In V1, 68% of the neurones exhibited low-pass temporal tuning characteristics and 32% were very broadly tuned, with a mean temporal frequency full band width of 2.9 octaves.
  • (3) The torus also received bilateral input from the nucleus ventromedialis thalami, nucleus of lemniscus lateralis, nucleus medialis, anterior octaval nucleus, descending octaval nucleus, and the reticular formation.
  • (4) She grew up in St Louis, Missouri, more impressed as a young girl by Mariah Carey's multi-octaves and Lauryn Hill.
  • (5) Two component tones of each stimulus were approximately an octave apart.
  • (6) Average half-width (at half-height) of the spatial-frequency tuning curves constructed from the data was 1.4 octaves, and was not dependent upon the level of adaptation or the spatial frequency of the test grating.
  • (7) The limited data from diplacusis measurements and octave adjustments suggest that the exaggerated negative pitch shifts are the consequence of a large increase in pitch at low stimulus levels which "recruits" at higher levels.
  • (8) When comparing conventional octave audiometry and Békésy threshold tracing, the latter method is found to be more subtle in finding carriers of genes for recessive deafness.
  • (9) 4) There is a disproportionately large cortical surface representation of the highest-frequency octaves (basal cochlea) within AI.
  • (10) Bursts of one-third octave noise with center frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz and durations of 15, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 300 msec were used as stimuli.
  • (11) The pars lateralis and rostral anterior octaval nucleus may be additional afferent sources.
  • (12) In Experiment 2, 2-point threshold-duration functions were compared for 4-kHz tones and octave-band noise bursts presented in backgrounds of quiet and continuous noise.
  • (13) Optimum filter bandwidth was found to be about 1.1 octaves.
  • (14) It was found that the neurons could respond well to single octaves of the spatial frequencies normally present in faces, that the most effective bands were 4-8, 8-16 and 16-32 cycles per face (cpf), and that the bands 2-4 and 32-64 cpf were partly effective.
  • (15) In the two experiments reported here, subjects performed repeated octave adjustments for pairs of simultaneous and successive tone bursts.
  • (16) One-third octave band frequency analysis of the weighted signals indicated that the dominant frequencies were usually 1.6 to 3.15 Hz, except when the vehicles were idling and higher frequencies predominated.
  • (17) Results varied by no more than one octave in 79 per cent of the cases.
  • (18) Speech and noise are both spectrally shaped according to the bisector line of the listener's dynamic-range of hearing, but with the noise in a single octave band (0.25-0.5 or 0.5-1 kHz) increased by 20 dB relative to this line.
  • (19) It is shown that phase-locking begins to decline at about 600 Hz and is no longer detectable above 3.5 kHz which is about 1 octave lower than in the cat, squirrel monkey and some birds.
  • (20) Chinchillas were exposed to an 86 dB SPL octave band of noise centered at 4.0 kHz for 3.5--5 days.

Semitone


Definition:

  • (n.) Half a tone; -- the name commonly applied to the smaller intervals of the diatonic scale.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In Experiment 1, children from 4 to 6 years of age were superior in detecting the semitone change in the diatonic context compared with the nondiatonic context.
  • (2) Model recognition performance shows a rapid improvement in correct vowel identification as the difference between the fundamental frequencies of two simultaneous vowels increases from zero to one semitone in a manner closely resembling human performance.
  • (3) The 6-month-olds' better performance on the major and augmented interval patterns than on the pelog interval pattern is potentially attributable to either the 6-month-olds' lesser perceptual acculturation than that of the 1-year-olds or perhaps to an innate predisposition for processing of music based on a single fundamental interval, in this case the semitone.
  • (4) A significant sex effect, not observed in a prior related study, was eliminated by conversion of the Fo data to semitones.
  • (5) The results of this study indicate that SFF standard deviation and semitone range of SFF are significantly reduced for patients with vocal fold paralysis as compared with normals.
  • (6) In Experiment 2, infants 9 to 11 months of age detected the semitone change in all positions, but their performance was not influenced by diatonic context.
  • (7) Another pattern that consists of simultaneous pairs of tones displays related properties (the semitone paradox).
  • (8) The tones were either identical in pitch or differed by a semitone.
  • (9) Comparison of male and female profiles showed similar values for frequency range in semitones, maximum and minimum SPL output, and total SPL range.
  • (10) Pitch threshold or, alternatively, rate threshold was taken to be the modulation depth required to decide which of two samples had the higher modulation; the rate difference was 20%--just over three semitones.
  • (11) Previously given preferred notes were rated high, as were notes three or four semitones distant from the preferred notes, but not notes one or two semitones distant.
  • (12) As this difference increases up to four semitones, performance improves further only slowly, if at all.
  • (13) He then started to hear all music one semitone too high, and now at the age of 71 it is heard a full tone above the true pitch.
  • (14) They were tested for their detection of two types of changes to that melody: (a) a 4-semitone change in 1 note that remained within the key and implied dominant harmony (diatonic change) or (b) a 1-semitone change in the same note that went outside the key (nondiatonic change).
  • (15) In three experiments, musically trained and untrained adults listened to three repetitions of a 5-note melodic sequence followed by a final melody with either the same tune as those preceding it or differing in one position by one semitone.
  • (16) Within the framework of the experimental conditions, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) The vocal pitch expressed in semitones was almost linearly related to the cricothyroid distance, with an increase of 0.15 to 0.90 semitones per milimeter of cricothyroid approximation.
  • (17) Frequency difference limens of these signals are in the order of 1-2 semitones.
  • (18) Specifically, one such waveform, when recorded on magnetic tape, will sound a semitone lower (rather than an octave higher) when played back at twice the tape speed.
  • (19) The form of the probability weightings derives from constraints on the "semitone span" of the intervals, the "fifth span" of the intervals, and the occurrence of "scale" notes.
  • (20) Variability in basal pitch levels for individual male children ranged from zero to two semitones from day to day and within time periods on one day.