Figure 5 Rank order, from least to most, of mean blend (averaged over context) for the ten dyads.

It is interesting to note that the distance of a pair of instruments from each other in Figure 4 is a rather good predictor of blend, with the greater the distance the less the blend. For example SO, OT, OC are far apart, and they do not blend well. On the other hand, FC, TC, FT are relatively close together and have high blend (Figure 5). Therefore, there is a relationship between the perceptual scaling of similarity (Figure 2) and blend, although not perfect. “Nasal” combinations blend less well than “brilliant” or “rich.”