A Basic Study of Musical Influence on Sensory Time and Color

Abstract

Music directly influences human feelings and the sense of the passage of time. This study measured the ratio of virtual time to real time that resulted from listening to K.265/K.300e, Mozart, in which the basic music was varied using 12 different modes. The results showed that quiet and slow music makes time feel shorter, and dynamic and up-tempo music makes time feel longer than real time. Additionally, each type of music can potentially paint a mental color image. Therefore, additional experiments were conducted to examine whether the harmonic sound of C-major, minor, sus4, and diminish could evoke images of color. The results were quite similar to the observations in special-ability individuals who can create a mental color image using sounds. Harmonic sound can evoke color, and the color can evoke the related functional images suggested by the environmental design. Harmonic sound could be a substitute to verbal announcement.