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PubMed1994

The role of resolved and unresolved harmonics in pitch perception and frequency modulation discrimination.

A series of experiments investigated the influence of harmonic resolvability on the pitch of, and the discriminability of differences in fundamental frequency (F0) between, frequency-modulated (FM) harmonic complexes. Both F0 (62.5 to 250 Hz) and spectral region (LOW: 125-625 Hz, MID: 1375-1875 Hz, and HIGH: 3900-5400 Hz) were varied orthogonally. The harmonics that comprised each complex could be summed in either sine (0 degree) phase (SINE) or alternating sine-cosine (0 degree-90 degrees) phase (ALT). Stimuli were presented in a continuous pink-noise background. Pitch-matching experiments revealed that the pitch of ALT-phase stimuli, relative to SINE-phase stimuli, was increased by an octave in the HIGH region, for all F0's, but was the same as that of SINE-phase stimuli when presented in the LOW region. In the MID region, the pitch of ALT-phase relative to SINE-phase stimuli depended on F0, being an octave higher at low F0's, equal at high F0's, and unclear at intermediate F0's. The same stimuli were then used in three measures of discriminability: FM detection thresholds (FMTs), frequency difference limens (FDLs), and FM direction discrimination thresholds (FMDDTs, defined as the minimum FM depth necessary for listeners to discriminate between two complexes modulated 180 degrees out of phase with each other). For all three measures, at all F0's, thresholds were low (< 4% for FMTs, < 5% for FMDDTs, and < 1.5% for FDLs) when stimuli were presented in the LOW region, and high (> 10% for FMTs, > 7% for FMDDTs, and > 2.5% for FDLs) when presented in the HIGH region. When stimuli were presented in the MID region, thresholds were low for low F0's, and high for high F0's. Performance was not markedly affected by the phase relationship between the components of a complex, except for stimuli with intermediate F0's in the MID spectral region, where FDLs and FMDDTs were much higher for ALT-phase stimuli than for SINE-phase stimuli, consistent with their unclear pitch. This difference was much smaller when FMTs were measured. The interaction between F0 and spectral region for both sets of experiments can be accounted for by a single definition of resolvability.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2002

Different modes of pitch perception and learning-induced neuronal plasticity of the human auditory cortex.

We designed a melody perception experiment involving eight harmonic complex tones of missing fundamental frequencies (hidden auditory object) to study the short-term neuronal plasticity of the auditory cortex. In this experiment, the fundamental frequencies of the complex tones followed the beginning of the virtual melody of the tune "Frère Jacques". The harmonics of the complex tones were chosen so that the spectral melody had an inverse contour when compared with the virtual one. Evoked magnetic fields were recorded contralaterally to the ear of stimulation from both hemispheres. After a base line measurement, the subjects were exposed repeatedly to the experimental stimuli for 1 hour a day. All subjects reported a sudden change in the perceived melody, indicating possible reorganization of the cortical processes involved in the virtual pitch formation. After this switch in perception, a second measurement was performed. Cortical sources of the evoked gamma-band activity were significantly stronger and located more medially after a switch in perception. Independent Component Analysis revealed enhanced synchronization in the gamma-band frequency range. Comparing the gamma-band activation of both hemispheres, no laterality effects were observed. The results indicate that the primary auditory cortices are involved in the process of virtual pitch perception and that their function is modifiable by laboratory manipulation.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Left ear advantage in pitch perception of complex tones without energy at the fundamental frequency.

Normal right-handed subjects were required to make pitch comparisons of complex tones in which the fundamental frequency was either present or absent. In both conditions, tones were presented monaurally. An increase in left-ear superiority was observed in the response time measurements when the fundamental was absent. These findings support the notion that the right hemisphere possesses a special mechanism for pitch computation.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Pitch shifts for complex tones with unresolved harmonics and the implications for models of pitch perception.

Complex tone bursts were bandpass filtered, 22nd-30th harmonic, to produce waveforms with five regularly occurring envelope peaks ("pitch pulses") that evoked pitches associated with their repetition period. Two such tone bursts were presented sequentially and separated by an interpulse interval (IPI). When the IPI was varied, the pitch of the whole sequence was shifted by between +2% and -5%. When the IPI was greater than one period, little effect was seen. This is consistent with a pitch mechanism employing a long integration time for continuous stimuli that resets in response to temporal discontinuities of greater than about one period of the waveform. Similar pitch shifts were observed for fundamental frequencies from 100 to 250 Hz. The pitch shifts depended on the IPI duration relative to the period of the complex, not on the absolute IPI duration. The pitch shifts are inconsistent with the autocorrelation model of Meddis and O'Mard [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 102, 1811-1820 (1997)], although a modified version of the weighted mean-interval model of Carlyon et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 112, 621-633 (2002)] was successful. The pitch shifts suggest that, when two pulses occur close together, one of the pulses is ignored on a probabilistic basis.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2005

Absolute pitch: perception, coding, and controversies.

Recent findings in cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology are converging to shed light on the nature of processing, categorization and memory for pitch in humans and animals. Although most people are unable to name or place pitch values in consistent, well-defined categories, as they do for color, stable long-term memory for pitch has been shown in certain animal species, in infants, and in both adult musicians and non-musicians. 'Absolute pitch', the rare ability to label pitches without external reference, appears to require acquisition early in life, and involves specialized brain mechanisms, now partially identified. Research on pitch coding strategies informs wider theories in cognitive science of semantic memory, and the nature of perceptual categories.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Musical pitch perception with electrical stimulation of the cochlea.

Studies were undertaken to investigate the ability of a user of the Nucleus multi-electrode cochlear implant to judge pitch in the context of musical intervals. The subject had qualified as a musical instrument tuner before he received his implant, and was able to judge the intervals between electrical sensations with neither training nor the guidance of familiar melodies. The procedures used were interval estimation, and interval production by the method of adjustment. The pitch of the electrical stimulation was controlled by varying the pulse repetition rate, the active electrode position, or two combinations of these parameters. Further studies employed sinusoidally amplitude modulated pulse trains with varying modulation frequency. The results showed that rate or modulation frequency could convey musical pitch information over a limited range (approximately two octaves). The data were directly comparable with the relationship between musical intervals and frequency for normal hearing. The pitch related to electrode place varied in accordance with the tonotopic organization of the cochlea, and also appeared to be able to support musical intervals. When both place and rate varied together, the place-related pitch was generally dominant. In all cases, the judgement of intervals tended to diverge from their acoustic counterparts as the intervals became larger.

Acoustics↗
PubMed2006

Saltation in pitch perception.

Sensory saltation is a spatiotemporal illusion in which the location of a brief stimulus is displaced towards a subsequent one following closely in time and space. This study investigated in three experiments whether or not saltation is present in spectral pitch, a non-spatial dimension. Employing the "symmetrical-rabbit" paradigm, listeners judged the continuity of sequences of six short tones, differing in pitch (Exp. 1). Furthermore, the "reduced-rabbit" paradigm consisting of only three short tones was used in combination with an objective two-alternative forced-choice task (Exp. 2) and a subjective judgment task (Exp. 3). All findings indicated displacements in pitch towards subsequent tones when the interstimulus interval between the tones was short, and the frequency separation was small. This suggests a saltation-like illusion for non-spatial stimulus parameters. Possible explanations are discussed in view of the supramodal characteristic of the phenomenon.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1983

Spatial cross-correlation. A proposed mechanism for acoustic pitch perception.

We propose in this paper a new class of model processes for the extraction of spectral information from the neural representation of acoustic signals in mammals. We are concerned particularly with mechanisms for detecting the phase-locked activity of auditory neurons in response to frequencies and intensities of sound associated with speech perception. Recent psychophysical tests on deaf human subjects implanted with intracochlear stimulating electrodes as an auditory prosthesis have produced results which are in conflict with the predictions of the classical place-pitch and periodicity-pitch theories. In our model, the detection of synchronicity between two phase-locked signals derived from sources spaced a finite distance apart on the basilar membrane can be used to extract spectral information from the spatiotemporal pattern of basilar membrane motion. Computer simulations of this process suggest an optimal spacing of about 0.3-0.4 of the wavelength of the frequency to be detected. This interval is consistent with a number of psychophysical, neurophysiological, and anatomical observations, including the results of high resolution frequency-mapping of the anteroventral cochlear nucleus which are presented here. One particular version of this model, invoking the binaurally sensitive cells of the medial superior olive as the critical detecting elements, has properties which are useful in accounting for certain complex binaural psychophysical observations.

Auditory Pathways↗
PubMed1997

Infants' pitch perception: masking by low- and high-frequency noises.

The present research employed an operant conditioning procedure typically used with infants to test noise masking of pure tones and tonal complexes in adults and in 7-month-old infants. Adults and infants were presented with either pure tones of 160 and 200 Hz or harmonic tonal complexes with pitches equivalent to 160 and 200 Hz. The tonal complexes did not contain energy at the fundamental frequency. After learning these tasks, subjects in the tonal complex group categorized spectrally varying tonal complexes according to the pitch of the missing fundamental. Stimuli were subsequently presented in combination with either a low- or a high-frequency noise. Both age groups successfully discriminated pure tones when combined with a high-frequency noise but not when combined with a low-frequency noise in the same frequency range as the pure tone. Infants, like adults, successfully categorized harmonic tonal complexes based on the pitch of the missing fundamental when those stimuli were combined with a low-frequency noise in the range of the missing fundamental but not when combined with a high-frequency noise which covered the frequency range of the harmonics themselves. These results suggest that infants rely primarily on a central process and not peripherally generated combination tones to hear the pitch of the missing fundamental.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Transient ischemic attacks presenting with a loss of pitch perception.

It has been suggested that the non-dominant hemisphere is specialized for receptive and expressive music and prosody. The present report describes a patient who experienced a series of non-dominant hemisphere transient ischemic attacks (TIA's) which included an inability to perceive intonation during one episode, and a failure to perceive melody during another. The perceptual losses during these TIA's are consistent with experimental results which suggest that the non-dominant hemisphere is specialized for complex-pitch processing. In some instances, amusia, dysprosody, and aprosodia reflect a common functional deficit.

Cerebrovascular Disorders↗
PubMed1994

Pitch percepts associated with amplitude-modulated current pulse trains in cochlear implantees.

The percepts elicited by electrical stimulation of auditory neurons by trains of amplitude-modulated current pulses were studied in a group of six cochlear implant users. Modulation frequencies of 100, 150, and 200 Hz were studied, with a range of carrier rates up to 1200 Hz. It was found that all but one subject could consistently rank 150- and 200-Hz modulated stimuli by modulation frequency when the carrier rate was more than 800 Hz, but for lower carrier rates the ranking was greatly affected by the harmonic relationship between carrier and modulation frequency. Pitch matching experiments showed that the subjects generally considered the modulated stimuli to be equal in pitch to unmodulated stimuli with rates the same as, or somewhat higher than, the modulation frequency. The results showed that the "pitch" of pulsatile electrical stimulation resulting from periodicities in the time structure of the electrical stimulus has similarities to the "pitch" observed for temporal patterns in acoustic stimulation such as amplitude-modulated noise. There were some differences, however, which may be attributable at least in part to the physiological response differences for electric and acoustic stimulation.

Adult↗