Re: Is there considerable phase locking up to 6 kHz?

[beaucham <beaucham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Christian,

Along these lines, with respect to the sound examples posted on his
web site, I responded (privately) to Chen-Gia as follows:

>On the 300 Hz F0 example I'm hearing E-G#-B .
>
>On the 350 Hz F0 example I'm hearing G-B-D, although somewhat flat
>compared to standard.
>
>On the 400 Hz F0 example I'm hearing A-C#-E.
>
>Could it be that I'm hearing the pitch of the center harmonic?

I didn't receive an answer to that question.

However, I noted that these are each musical pitches corresponding to a
major triad, which corresponds approximately to the ratios 4:5:6.

Taking the 400 Hz example, the center harmonic frequencies are: 4400,
5200, 6000, which have the ratios 4.2 : 5: 5.77 -- not a bad comparison,
except that 5.77/4.2 = 1.373 is more like a 3:4 interval than a 2:3.
Also, if I compute the equal-tempered pitches that match these
frequencies I get C#, E+, F# (E+ is about half-way between an E and an
F), which is not what I heard. So the place-theory idea might hold some
water, but it's not very accurate.

Jim Beauchamp
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

You wrote:
>From: Christian Kaernbach <mailinglist@KAERNBACH.DE>
>Date:         Wed, 17 Mar 2004 15:08:56 +0100
>To: AUDITORY@LISTS.MCGILL.CA
>Subject:      Re: Is there considerable phase locking up to 6 kHz?
>
>Dear Chen-Gia Tsai,
>
>> I use three stimuli:
>> A={400*9, 400*11, 400*13} Hz
>> B={400*11, 400*13, 400*15} Hz
>> C={400*13, 400*15, 400*17} Hz
>>
>> If we listen to [ABC], we can hear an ascending melody,
>
>I seem not to get your point. If ABC of the above three stimuli is
>perceived as an ascending melody, this is surely due to their spectral
>content being at increasingly high frequency values. The mid-frequncy of
>A is 4400 Hz, of B 5200 Hz, of C it is 6000 Hz. Why should any simple
>"place" model of pitch perception not predict that one perceives a
>rising melody in ABC?
>
>Temporal pitch extraction would extract 400 Hz in all three cases (if
>operating flawlessly, and all effects of compression etc. put aside) .
>Thus, if listening to your temporal pitch extractor (if you were
>selectively able to do so) you would hear 400, 400, 400 Hz, i.e. no rise
>in pitch (but change in timbre).
>
>Best,
>Christian Kaernbach
>