two cycles

[Fred Herzfeld <herzfeld@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi list,

In many of the papers published by Georg von Békésy he makes the 
statement that the fundamental frequency was determined by the auditory 
system "even when the stimulus was only two cycles" in length. In at 
least one of his publications {The Missing Fundamental and Periodicity 
Detection in Hearing  JASA 1972 512) 631-637) he attributes this to his 
own experiments and to a paper by Savart.[Annalen der Physik und Chemie 
1840 53 ( ) 555-561 in german]. It is quite true that Savart found that 
the fundamental was determined in two cycles but it was published in an 
earlier paper by Savart (Ueber die Empfindlichkeit des Gehörorgans 
Felix Savart Annalen der Physik und Chemie 1830 20( ) 290-304 in 
german)and no mention of the two cycles is mentioned in the citation by 
    Békésy. Actually from a historical point of view the original paper 
by Felix Savart was published in French in: Annales de chimie et de 
Physique 1830 44 ( )  337-352 in French.

Can anyone point me to literature which shows how the auditory system 
performs the "two cycle" feat, or to papers which show how such a "two 
cycle" feat might be acomplished mathematically or to any papers of a 
more recent origin which discusses this ability.

Thanks,

Fred
--
Fred Herzfeld, MIT '54
78 Glynn Marsh Drive #59
Brunswick, Ga.31525
USA