Main content

Auditory Illusions

Trevor Cox investigates sounds that trick the ear to find out how they are used in music, and he challenges composer Sarah Angliss to write a piece inspired by those illusions.

Trevor Cox is fascinated by auditory illusions - sounds that trick the ear. He discovers how they can be used in music and challenges composer Sarah Angliss to write a piece of music commissioned specially for this programme, inspired by the illusions he finds for her.

Trevor talks to musicians - musicologist and former drummer Bill Bruford, baroque violinist Rachel Podger, and Dan Stowell who wrote a thesis about beatboxing. We hear from composers Steve Reich and Francis Shaw. And Diana Deutsch, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, introduces some of the illusions that she has spent a lifetime investigating.

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Tue 29 Oct 2019 11:30

Broadcasts

  • Mon 2 Sep 2019 16:00
  • Tue 29 Oct 2019 11:30

Can you believe your ears?

Can you believe your ears?

Five auditory illusions and what they tell us about how the brain processes sound.