The influence of duration on the perception of pitch in single and simultaneous complex tones

\u3cp\u3eThe influence of duration on the virtual pitch of complex tones was measured using an absolute identification paradigm. If performance with two-tone complexes is expressed in terms of a single central frequency-coding noise function, this function is found to depend on duration in about the same way as the pure-tone difference limen function. The function is further found to be a reasonably good predictor of pitch identification performance with multitone complexes. Another experimental finding was that subjects tend to switch to the analytic mode of pitch perception when complex tones are shortened (i.e., they tend to hear the spectral pitches instead of the virtual ones). A third finding was that with simultaneous complex tones the degradation of each pitch percept depends not only on duration and harmonic order of the tone but also on the harmonic order of the other tone.\u3c/p\u3

Pitch identification of simultaneous dichotic two-tone complexes

The optimum processor theory of Goldstein can, in principle, account for pitch perception phenomena involving simultaneous dichotic complex tones. The frequency‐coding noise function, which is the only free parameter of the model, was estimated with pitch identification data of two simultaneous two‐tone complexes presented to different ears. This ‘‘sigma’’ function was found to have a shape similar to that of the function derived from data on identification performance for single pitches. The sigmas in the simultaneous pitch identification experiment are larger by an amount that differs from subject to subject. By using different methods of data analysis it was found that the pitch estimation processes for the two tones are independent for most subjects. This allows a simple extension of Goldstein’s optimum processor theory

The role of aural frequency analysis in pitch perception with simultaneous complex tones

Pitch perception has always been a relatively important issue in psychoacoustic literature. In particular the problem of complex-tone pitch, which does not simply depend on any single spectral frequency, has been the object of much interest during the past century. Since Seebeck (1841) discovered that upper partials contribute significantly to the pitch of complex tones, several mechanisms have been proposed such as nonlinear distortion creating a difference tone (Helmholtz, 1863; Fletcher, 1924), interference between unresolved partials causing a periodic envelope pattern (Schouten, 1940; Plomp, 1967), or some form of central neural processing (Goldstein, 1973; Wightman, 1973; Terhardt, 1972). Most modern pitch theories agree that the pitch of a complex tone is directly or indirectly derived from spectral frequencies which are resolved in the cochlea

Pitch identification of simultaneous diotic and dichotic two-tone complexes

This study examines subjects’ ability to recognize the pitches of two missing fundamentals in two simultaneous two‐tone complexes whose partials are distributed in various ways between subjects’ ears. The data show that identification performance is affected on different levels. Limited frequency resolution in the peripheral auditory system can degrade performance, but only if none of the four stimulus partials is aurally resolved. Identification performance is only weakly dependent on the manner of distributing partials between the ears. In some cases it was found that, probably at a very central level (e.g., attention), the identification processes of both simultaneous pitches interfere with one another. Some subjects are more likely to identify the pitch of one two‐tone complex when the harmonic order of the other complex is higher than when this harmonic order is lower. Finally, some subjects tend to hear the complex tones analytically, i.e., perceive pitches of single partials instead of the missing fundamentals for some distribution of partials between the ears

Pitch identification of simultaneous dichotic two-tone complexes and the optimum processor theory

The optimum processor theory of Goldstein can be generalized to account for pitch perception phenomena involving simultaneous complex tones . The frequency coding noise function, which is the only free parameter of the model , was estimated with pitch identification data of two simultaneous dichotic two-tone complexes and found to be consistent with estimates that are based on identification performance for single pitches