This introductory text deals with the physical systems and biological processes that intervene in what we broadly call "music." It analyzes what physical properties of sound patterns are associated with what psychological sensations of music, and describes how these sound patterns are actually produced in musical instruments, how they propagate through the environment, and how they are detected by the ear and interpreted in the brain. Without using complicated mathematics, the author weaves a close mesh between the disciplines of acoustics, psychophysics, and neurobiology, offering an integral picture of not only the science of music, but also the "music of science", that is, the beauty and excitement of scientific research, reasoning and understanding. This text should be accessible to undergraduate-level students, whether from science, arts or engineering schools, but it should also be useful to professional musicians, physics educators, acoustical engineers and neuroscientists.

The fourth edition incorporates recent research on tone generation in musical instruments and latest findings in brain science, including substantially updated coverage of psychophysics and brain function relevant to music perception, new results from tomographic imaging, and new understanding of the neural processes responsible for human consciousness and the emotional response of the brain to music.