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Published on: May 23, 2017
Pitch perception of concurrent harmonic tones with overlapping spectra
Jian Wang1, Thomas Baer, Brian R Glasberg
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|July 12, 2012
Summary
This study measured fundamental frequency difference limens (F0DLs) for complex tones. Results show F0DLs increase with frequency and depend on phase, with temporal fine structure aiding perception.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Psychoacoustics
- Signal Processing
Background:
- Fundamental frequency difference limens (F0DLs) are crucial for pitch perception.
- Understanding F0DLs in complex sounds with spectral overlap is vital for auditory modeling.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure F0DLs for a harmonic complex tone in the presence and absence of a spectrally overlapping harmonic masker.
- To investigate the effects of masker fundamental frequency (F0) offset, spectral region, and component phase on F0DLs.
Main Methods:
- F0DLs were measured for a 200 Hz target tone with harmonic maskers at 0, ±3, ±6 semitones.
- Stimuli were bandpass filtered (low, medium, high regions) with background noise.
- Target and masker components had cosine or random phase.
Main Results:
- The effect of F0 difference between target and masker was generally small.
- F0DLs were larger for random phase than cosine phase in higher frequency regions (M and H).
- F0DLs increased with the center frequency of the bandpass filter.
Conclusions:
- Temporal fine structure information likely explains small F0DLs when harmonics are poorly resolved.
- Phase effects and frequency-dependent F0DLs highlight the complexity of pitch perception in challenging listening conditions.
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