What term describes the perceived frequency of a sound?

• A. Timbre
• B. Loudness
• C. Pitch
• D. Frequency

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is how we describe how high or low a sound seems. That quality is pitch. Our ears perceive the rate at which a sound wave vibrates as pitch: higher-frequency waves feel like higher pitches, lower-frequency waves feel like lower pitches. The actual physical property of the sound is frequency (measured in hertz), but pitch is the perceptual interpretation of that frequency.

Timbre is the color or tone quality that lets us tell different instruments apart at the same pitch and loudness, and loudness is how strong or quiet the sound is. So when asked for the term that describes how high or low a sound seems to us, pitch is the correct term.