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Discriminating between coherent and incoherent frequency modulation of complex tones
1Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Sussex University, England.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|January 1, 1991
Summary
Human listeners can detect frequency modulation (FM) incoherence in harmonic tones, but not in inharmonic ones. This detection relies on mistuning cues, not a general across-frequency mechanism.
Area of Science:
- Auditory perception
- Psychoacoustics
- Signal processing
Background:
- Listeners' ability to perceive complex auditory information is crucial.
- Frequency modulation (FM) coherence plays a role in auditory scene analysis.
- Understanding how listeners detect subtle changes in complex tones is key.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate human listeners' ability to discriminate between coherent and incoherent frequency modulation (FM) in complex tones.
- To determine the role of harmonicity and modulation delay in detecting FM incoherence.
- To explore the underlying mechanisms of FM incoherence detection.
Main Methods:
- Listeners discriminated between complex tones with coherent and incoherent frequency modulation (FM).
- Experiments varied harmonicity (harmonic vs. inharmonic complexes) and modulator delay.
- Stimulus durations and modulation rates were manipulated.
Main Results:
- Listeners accurately detected FM incoherence in harmonic complexes, with performance improving with modulator delay.
- Detection of FM incoherence in inharmonic complexes was near chance, regardless of delay.
- Listeners could detect incoherence in some inharmonic complexes at longer durations/slower rates, likely due to harmonicity cues.
Conclusions:
- Listeners detect FM incoherence in harmonic complexes by identifying mistuning of individual components.
- The detection of FM incoherence is dependent on the harmonic structure of the complex tone.
- There is no evidence for an across-frequency mechanism specifically for detecting FM incoherence.