Perception of meter similarity in flamenco music

The results of a listening test conducted to evaluate the perceived similarity of the five metric patterns used in flamenco music are presented. The objective of this experiment includes testing out the validity of those measures from a perceptual point of view. Dissimilarity ratings were analyzed using multi-dimensional scaling and phylogenetic analysis, and the perceptual measures of similarity were then compared with mathematical measures of rhythmic similarity used in to determine which measure best matches human judgments. The graphical interface was programmed in Java on a MacPro computer, and sounds were presented over headphones. A dissimilarity matrix was created for each participant based on their ratings, and these values were averaged for every participant to symmetrize the matrix.