Subject: Re: New Scientist Question From: Martin Braun <nombraun(at)POST.NETLINK.SE> Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 14:27:57 +0100John Beerends wrote: > Can a simple explanation be that if I yawn the loudness goes down and > because loudness and pitch are coupled the pitch will change. Yes, that's possible. But the main reason would be that loudness and pitch changes are very often mixed up. A loudness change can be misperceived as a pitch change, and vice versa. A further important side-effect of yawning is a temporary opening of the Eustachian tube between the nasal spaces and the middle ear. Because the opening probability of the Eustachian tube varies greatly between persons, this effect might explain why only some people hear the yawning effect. In any case, we have a difficult middle ear problem here, and for a satisfactory answer we would have to hear what middle ear experts like John Rosowski have to say. Martin -------------------------------------------- Martin Braun Neuroscience of Music Gansbyn 14 S-671 95 Klässbol Sweden nombraun(at)post.netlink.se