Subject: Re: Pitch perception shift caused by carbamazepine and yawning From: Martin Braun <nombraun(at)TELIA.COM> Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 15:34:37 +0100John Neuhoff wrote: > Of course there are plenty of studies that demonstrate that changes in > loudness can influence the pitch of same-frequency tones, starting with > the classic work of Stevens on equal pitch contours. Such studies need to be interpreted with much caution. The often claimed dependence of pitch on sound level simply is based on poor interpretation of the data and should be called a scientific artefact. There definitely is an independence of level and pitch in hearing. When a violin plays a steady-state C4 from piano to forte, neither the player nor an experienced listener hears a pitch shift. It can happen, however, than an inexperienced listener says that the tone went up. This is a typical confusion of perceptional qualities, but it has nothing to do with limitations of our auditory system. Similarly, if somebody confuses brightness and contrast in vision, we would not suggest that the confusion is due to limitations of human vision. Interestingly, the propensity to confuse level shift with pitch shift is well reflected in some of our "natural" languages. Even such sophisticated languages as Spanish and Swedish have no particular word for "loud". They use the word "high" when meaning "loud". So "alto" in Spanish and "hög" in Swedish are used both for high pitch and for high loudness. The origin of the close association (and confusion) of the categories "level" and "pitch" probably lies in speech. In agitated speech both go up simultaneously, and in tired speech both go down simultaneously. Martin ---------------------------- Martin Braun Neuroscience of Music S-671 95 Klassbol Sweden web site: http://w1.570.telia.com/~u57011259/index.htm