[Modeling of auditory mechanisms of pitch perception]

A hypothesis of two subordinately interconnected pitch perception systems is put forward and described. The leading system is responsible for the analysis of periodical sequences of spikes along audioneurons whose generation moments are synchronized by the acting sound oscillations. This system allows measuring of any periodical sound--simple or complex--including the residual sound. However, the system of periodicity analysis does not ensure the experimentally determined precision of pitch change perception. It is shown that the signal distribution along the basilar membrane enables the activation of the second system which analyses the spatial--temporal image by means of a great number of well innervated internal receptor cells. This system functioning is characterized by small values of differential threshold pitches, since as a discriminatory characteristic a curt decline of the basilar membrane oscillation envelope is used which is formed after a prolonged sinusoidal sound.