Mel scale
The
mel scale, proposed by
Stevens,
Volkman and
Newman in
1937 is a scale of
pitcheses judged by listeners to be equal in distance one from another. The reference point between this scale and normal frequency measurement is defined by equating a 1000
Hz tone, 40
dB above the listener's threshold, with a pitch of 1000 mels. Below about 500 Hz the mel and
hertz scales coincide; above that, larger and larger
intervalss are judged by listeners to produce equal pitch increments. As a result, four octaves on the hertz scale above 500 Hz are judged to comprise about two octaves on the mel scale. Many
musicians and
psychologists prefer a two-dimensional representation of pitch by
chroma or
tone color and tone-height.
To convert hertz into mel use:
-
And the converse:
-
See also: Bark scale