On Statistical Analysis of the Pattern of Evolution of Perceived Emotions Induced by Hindustani Music- A Study Based on Listener Responses

TL;DR

This study analyzes how the perception of emotions in Hindustani music has evolved in India, revealing a shift towards fewer perceived emotions and increased anxiety, linked to societal changes, using statistical analysis of listener responses.

Contribution

It introduces a statistical framework to track the evolution of emotional perception in music, highlighting significant societal influences on emotional responses over time.

Findings

Perceived emotions follow a sequential pattern linked to tempo changes.

Range of perceived emotions has decreased over time.

Perception of anxiety has increased significantly.

Abstract

The objective of this study is to find the underlying pattern of how perception of emotions has evolved in India. Here Hindustani Music has been used as a reference frame for tracking the changing perception of emotions. It has been found that different emotions perceived from Hindustani Music form a particular sequential pattern when their corresponding pitch periods are analyzed using the standard deviations and mean successive squared differences.This sequential pattern of emotions coincides with their corresponding sequential pattern of tempos or average number of steady states. On the basis of this result we further found that the range of perception of emotions has diminished significantly these days compared to what it was before. The proportion of responses for the perceived emotions like Anger, Serenity, Romantic and Sorrow has also decreased to a great extent than what it was previously. The proportion of responses for the perceived emotion Anxiety has increased phenomenally. Both standard deviation and mean successive squared difference are two very good measures in tracking the changing perception of emotions. The overall pattern of the change of perceived emotions has corresponded to the psychological and sociological change of human life.