研究人员Daniel Wilkerson在2012年发表的论文《和声解释：音乐科学理论的进展》中，建立了音乐和声的科学理论框架[1]。该研究从物理现象和计算现象两个角度出发，推导出大调音阶、标准和弦字典以及大小三和弦感受差异等三个音乐基本现象[1]。
论文对19世纪物理学家赫尔姆霍兹的理论提出了批评[1]。赫尔姆霍兹认为音符和谐是因为一起演奏时比其他音符"更不差"，但这个理论存在逻辑矛盾——按照该理论，单个音符应该最和谐，和声现象本不应该存在[1]。该论文于2012年2月20日首次提交，最后修订于2014年6月9日[1]。
A research paper titled "Harmony Explained: Progress Towards a Scientific Theory of Music" presents a scientific framework for understanding musical harmony by deriving three fundamental musical phenomena from both physical and computational perspectives [1]. The study, initially submitted on February 20, 2012, and revised through June 9, 2014, was authored by Daniel Wilkerson [1]. The paper derives the major scale, a standard chord dictionary, and explanations for the perceptual differences between major and minor triads [1].
The work critiques nineteenth-century physicist Hermann von Helmholtz's theory of harmony, identifying significant logical flaws in his approach [1]. Helmholtz's theory posits that musical notes harmonize because they sound "less bad" when played together compared to other combinations, yet this reasoning creates a paradox: according to this logic, individual notes should be most harmonious, and harmonic phenomena should not exist at all [1].