Timbral and Molecular Signatures in Cross‑Domain Identity Classification

Abstract

This study examines the conceptual and epistemic parallels between timbre classification in musicology and molecular classification in biochemistry, focusing on how both fields construct identity through multidimensional patterns and recognisable signatures. Despite these shared logics, little cross‑disciplinary work has explored how auditory and molecular signatures function as markers of identity. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from sound studies and molecular science, the study employs a desk‑based comparative methodology to analyse published musicological and biochemical classification frameworks. The findings reveal strong structural analogies, such as spectral versus atomic components, spectro-morphology versus molecular conformation, and dynamic sound envelopes versus molecular kinetics, as well as shared epistemic functions grounded in pattern recognition and emergent identity formation. These insights highlight the value of signature‑based classification as a cross‑domain tool and demonstrate how identity in both fields arises from interacting structural and functional layers. The study contributes a conceptual model positioning timbre as an analogue for molecular identity, offering new perspectives for interdisciplinary classification theory and providing pedagogical resources for teaching complex biochemical concepts through intuitive sonic analogies.