Re: Auditory wheel

[Martin Braun <nombraun@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear friends (and enemies) of the circle,

The geometrical form in the brain that enables octave circularity is not the
spiral staircase, but the z-formed staircase. The interesting thing with a
z-formed staircase (as often used for fire escapes) is that it is both
circular and bipolar. Each stairway section is straight and has two ends, a
lower end and an upper end.

Perhaps the worldwide habit to start musical scales around the tones C and D
reflects the bipolarity that we have in the neuroanatomy of the octave
circle. The statistics of spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAE) seem to
suggest just this.

Because the physiology of the octave has become fairly transparent in recent
years, it seemed appropriate to publish a short chronological summary of the
main findings:

http://www.neuroscience-of-music.se/Octave-History.htm


Martin

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Martin Braun
Neuroscience of Music
S-671 95 Klässbol
Sweden
email: nombraun@xxxxxxxxx
web site: http://www.neuroscience-of-music.se/index.htm