A time domain description for the pitch strength of iterated rippled noise

Two versions of a cascaded add, attenuate, and delay circuit were used to generate iterated rippled noise (IRN) stimuli. IRN stimuli produce a repetition pitch whose strength relative to the noise can be varied by changing the type of circuit, the attenuation, or the number of iterations in the circuit. Listeners were asked to discriminate between various pairs of IRN stimuli which differed in the type of network used to generate the sounds or the number of iterations (n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9). Performance was determined for IRN stimuli generated with delays of 2, 4, and 8 ms and for four bandpass filter conditions (0-2000, 250-2000, 500-2000, and 750-2000 Hz). Some IRN stimuli were extremely difficult to discriminate despite relatively large spectral differences, while other IRN stimuli produced readily discriminable changes in perception, despite small spectral differences. these contrasting results are inconsistent with simple spectral explanations for the perception of IRN stimuli. An explanation based on the first peak of the autocorrelation function of IRN stimuli is consistent with the results. Simulations of the processing performed by the peripheral auditory system (i.e., interval histograms and correlograms) produce results which are consistent with the involvement of these temporal processes in the perception of IRN stimuli.