Re: Place-based pitch (Eckard Blumschein )

Subject: Re: Place-based pitch
From:    Eckard Blumschein  <Eckard.Blumschein(at)E-TECHNIK.UNI-MAGDEBURG.DE>
Date:    Tue, 30 Mar 2004 10:44:22 +0100

At 16:26 24.03.2004 -0500, Al Bregman wrote:
>There is a phenomenon that suggests a contribution of place information to
>pitch at all frequencies: the phenomenon of diplacusis, the hearing of
>different pitches for the same sound at the two ears (when presented to only
>one ear at a time).  It is hard to imagine how a temporal mechanism could
>produce such an effect, but if the two cochleas were slightly different
>anatomically, one could see how this phenomenon could occur.

Yes. While I see diplacusis one more evidence for the predominant role of
place code, this does not contradict my presumption that signal processing
in the brain is largely based on temporal mechanisms.
My right eye sees a triple world but both eyes work reasonably together. I
guess, some people with CI will benefit from similar flexibility of brain.
The only way such fusion of pattern might work is presumably based on
temporal coincidences. They require the place code to be retranslated into
a temporal one, maybe already by means of multipolar chopper cells within
CN. The traditional contrast between place and temporal code might not be
the optimal basis for psychoacoustics and related technology including
hearing aids. Our thinking is deeply rooted in terms of spectrum. I suggest
trying to imagine something like cepstrum instead.

Eckard