Psychoacoustic and Archeoacoustic nature of ancient Aztec skull whistles.

ABSTRACT: Many ancient cultures used musical tools for social and ritual procedures, with the Aztec skull whistle being a unique exemplar from postclassic Mesoamerica. Skull whistles can produce softer hiss-like but also aversive and scream-like sounds that were potentially meaningful either for sacrificial practices, mythological symbolism, or intimidating warfare of the Aztecs. However, solid psychoacoustic evidence for any theory is missing, especially how human listeners cognitively and affectively respond to skull whistle sounds. Using psychoacoustic listening and classification experiments, we show that skull whistle sounds are predominantly perceived as aversive and scary and as having a hybrid natural-artificial origin. Skull whistle sounds attract mental attention by affectively mimicking o

SUBMITTER: Fruhholz S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11555264 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature