Which term describes the connection between nonmusical sounds and their meanings, such as a bell signifying the end of class?

The term that best describes the connection between nonmusical sounds and their meanings, such as a bell signifying the end of class, is known as extramusical associations. This concept refers to the learned or culturally assigned meanings that certain sounds carry beyond their musical properties. For example, a school bell is not a musical note in itself, but its sound is associated with a specific action or event—the end of a class.

Extramusical associations are essential in understanding how sounds can evoke certain responses or behaviors in people based on context or cultural conditioning. This understanding is particularly relevant in music therapy, where therapists may use nonmusical sounds to elicit certain emotional or behavioral responses from clients, capitalizing on these associations to facilitate therapeutic goals.

The other options, while related to sound and meaning in various ways, do not capture this specific relationship as precisely. Cultural implications involve broader societal meanings attached to phenomena rather than just the sound itself. Auditory signaling might refer to sounds used to convey a message, but it does not embody the specific connection to learned meanings. Contextual awareness is a more general concept that includes understanding the situational context but does not specifically address the relationship between sounds and their meanings as extramusical associations do.