Talk:Tritone paradox

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I think we should go back to the original entry as "Tritone paradox" and put a redirect on "Deutsch tritone paradox." It is more commonly referred to by the former name in the scientific literature, and we can provide suitable and appropriate links from the WP entry on Diana Deutsch. User: Daniel Levitin

[edit] Suggest revert

I think we should revert to the original WP title posted in 2003. The Tritone Paradox was discovered by Deutsch in the course of her research, and was not originally conceived by Shepard. See Deutsch JASA 1986 for the first public presentation, and Deutsch MP 1986 for the first written documentation. Moreover, it is frequently referred to as the "Deutsch Tritone Paradox."

Shepard speculates in his 1964 JASA paper that two octave-complex ("Shepard-tones") a tri-tone apart would form a bi-stable illusion. This was years before Deutsch wrote about it, so I think the earliest scientific credit naturally belongs to him. It is true that Deutsch did all the work, but referring to it as the "Deutsch Tritone Paradox" seems to be perpetuating a misunderstanding of the history. DanielLevitin 06:02, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Whether the title is “Deutsch Tritone Paradox” or just “Tritone Paradox” is actually a minor issue when compared to the erroneous implication that Shepard’s 1964 "bi-stable illusion" is the same as the “Tritone Paradox.” Shepard wrote: '‘diametrically opposed tones are ambiguous and the second tone is judged to be higher about as often as it is judged to be lower'’. The whole point of the “Tritone Paradox” is that the opposite occurs – notes are judged to be higher or lower depending largely on note name. Let’s leave the simplified title, but also not credit someone historically for work which claims the opposite. User:thenthorn 01:27, 13 September 2007 (UTC)