Contrasts concert-surveys were derived from literature that specifically describes musical sounds and piano tone. It is the use of attributes in the survey questions that provides the relational measure ²⁷⁶ to guide the listener’s discernment of the sounds of the Stuart and Steinway.

Verbal attribute-based relational studies record judgments about a set of sounds relative to a collection of words deemed appropriate for describing timbre. ²⁷⁷

W.Brent states, a criticism of this method of surveying is that the information provided anticipates particular aspects of timbre, chosen in advance, makes assumptions about the nature of timbre, threatening to push the research results in particular directions, and may limit the information collected from the participants, as well precluding unanticipated relevant features of timbre.²⁷⁸

The studies by V.Bismark and A.Houstma presented participants with verbal attributes in scales of timbre quality where pairs of opposite attributes such as ‘dark’ to ‘bright’, provide the relational measure of sound quality.

Timbres of sounds can be uniquely described if the sounds are rated on a few scales which are characterized by verbal attributes.²⁷⁹

In one such study, Bismark assembled a wide range of verbal attributes from which after hearing the sounds to be tested, the participants were asked to select a smaller number of attributes which they understood according to their musical experience most suited the sounds, to avoid pre-selection bias of the convener.

²⁷⁶John Hajda, The Effect of Dynamic Acoustical Features on Musical Timbre, (New York : Springer Link 2007).
²⁷⁷Brent,8.
²⁷⁸ibid
^{279     2}Bismark, G.von, Timbre of Steady Sounds: (1974),159-172.