ASA 128th Meeting - Austin, Texas - 1994 Nov 28 .. Dec 02

4aMUa6. The pitch of elements of a harmonic complex.

Blane Anderson

W. Dixon Ward

Dept. of Commun. Disord., Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455

It is well established that the pitch of a sinusoid is shifted away from the frequency of a simultaneous noise band or sinusoid. Attempts to determine whether or not such pitch shifts occur among elements of a harmonic complex tone have given results that are apparently conflicting. In an endeavor to shed light, or at least a few shadows, on the question, seven listeners adjusted a sinusoid to match the pitch of either the 3rd or 7th harmonic of a preceding 220-Hz 8-harmonic complex in which the harmonic in question was periodically interrupted. Both monotic and dichotic procedures, with corrections for diplacusis, were employed in order to control for possible adaptation effects. On average, the pitch of the 7th harmonic was shifted upward by about 25 cents due to the presence of its neighbors, but the pitch of the 3rd harmonic was unaffected. In both cases, however, consistent individual differences were found, so that no unequivocal conclusions can be reached.