Journal ArticleDOI
Neural correlates of the pitch of complex tones. II. Pitch shift, pitch ambiguity, phase invariance, pitch circularity, rate pitch, and the dominance region for pitch.
Peter Cariani,Bertrand Delgutte +1 more
TLDR
This paper addresses the neural correlates of stimuli that produce more complex patterns of pitch judgments, such as shifts in pitch and multiple pitches, and investigates the relation between pitches associated with periodicity and those associated with click rate.Abstract:
1. The neural correlates of low pitches produced by complex tones were studied by analyzing temporal discharge patterns of auditory nerve fibers in Dial-anesthetized cats. In the previous paper it was observed that, for harmonic stimuli, the most frequent interspike interval present in the population of auditory nerve fibers always corresponded to the perceived pitch (predominant interval hypothesis). The fraction of these most frequent intervals relative to the total number of intervals qualitatively corresponded to strength (salience) of the low pitches that are heard. 2. This paper addresses the neural correlates of stimuli that produce more complex patterns of pitch judgments, such as shifts in pitch and multiple pitches. Correlates of pitch shift and pitch ambiguity were investigated with the use of harmonic and inharmonic amplitude-modulated (AM) tones varying either in carrier frequency or modulation frequency. Pitches estimated from the pooled interval distributions showed shifts corresponding to "the first effect of pitch shift" (de Boer's rule) that is observed psychophysically. Pooled interval distributions in response to inharmonic stimulus segments showed multiple maxima corresponding to the multiple pitches heard by human listeners (pitch ambiguity). 3. AM and quasi-frequency-modulated tones with low carrier frequencies produce very similar patterns of pitch judgments, despite great differences in their phase spectra and waveform envelopes. Pitches estimated from pooled interval distributions were remarkably similar for the two kinds of stimuli, consistent with the psychophysically observed phase invariance of pitches produced by sets of low-frequency components. 4. Trains of clicks having uniform and alternating polarities were used to investigate the relation between pitches associated with periodicity and those associated with click rate. For unipolar click trains, where periodicity and rate coincide, physiologically estimated pitches closely follow the fundamental period. This corresponds to the pitch at the fundamental frequency (F0) that is heard. For alternating click trains, where rate and periodicity do not coincide, physiologically estimated pitches always closely followed the fundamental period. Although these pitch estimates corresponded to periodicity pitches that are heard for F0s > 150 Hz, they did not correspond to the rate pitches that are heard for F0s 150 Hz. Pitches for high-pass-filtered alternating click trains were estimated from pooled responses of fibers with characteristic frequencies (CFs) > 2 kHz. Roughly equal numbers of intervals at 1/rate and 1/F0 were found for all F0s studied, from 80 to 160 Hz, producing pitch estimates consistent with the rate pitches that are heard after high-pass filtering. The existence region for rate pitch also coincided with the presence of clear periodicities related to the click rate in pooled peristimulus time histograms. These periodicities were strongest for ensembles of fibers with CFs > 2 kHz, where there is widespread synchrony of discharges across many fibers. 6. The "dominance region for pitch" was studied with the use of two harmonic complexes consisting of harmonics 3-5 of one F0 and harmonics 6-12 of another fundamental 20% higher in frequency. When the complexes were presented individually, pitch estimates were always close to the fundamental of the complex. When the complexes were presented concurrently, pitch estimates always followed the fundamental of harmonics 3-5 for F0s of 150-480 Hz. For F0s of 125-150 Hz, pitch estimates followed one or the other fundamental, and for F0s < 125 Hz, pitch estimates followed the fundamental of harmonics 6-12. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Dominance of missing fundamental versus spectrally cued pitch: individual differences for complex tones with unresolved harmonics.
TL;DR: The temporal envelope modulation of stimuli with only four unresolved harmonics can give a relatively clear fundamental pitch percept, however, this percept varies considerably among subjects.
Journal ArticleDOI
Perception of the pitch of unresolved harmonics by 3- and 7-month-old human infants.
Bonnie K. Lau,Lynne A. Werner +1 more
TL;DR: Nearly all infants tested categorized complexes by MF pitch suggesting discrimination of pitch extracted from unresolved harmonics by 3 months, although musically trained adults were more successful than musically untrained adults.
Journal ArticleDOI
Computational Model Predictions of Cues for Concurrent Vowel Identification
TL;DR: It is suggested that concurrent vowel identification may be partly influenced by level-dependent changes in phase locking of auditory-nerve fibers to F0s and formants of both vowels.
Journal ArticleDOI
Vibrotactile Stimulation Based on the Fundamental Frequency Can Improve Melodic Contour Identification of Normal-Hearing Listeners With a 4-Channel Cochlear Implant Simulation.
Xin Luo,Lauren Hayes +1 more
TL;DR: When the simulated or real CI performance is relatively poor, vibrotactile stimulation based on the F0 may improve MCI with acoustic CI simulations and perhaps in real CI users as well.
Journal ArticleDOI
Encoding Bandpass Signals Using Zero/Level Crossings: A Model-Based Approach
Ramdas Kumaresan,N. Panchal +1 more
TL;DR: The proposed signal representation is an alternative to standard analog to discrete conversion based on the sampling theorem, and in principle possesses some of the desirable attributes of signal representation in natural sensory systems.
References
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An Introduction to the Psychology of Hearing
TL;DR: In this paper, the nature of sound and the structure and function of the auditory system are discussed, including absolute thresholds, frequency selectivity, masking and the critical band, and the perception of loudness.
Journal ArticleDOI
Introduction to the Psychology of Hearing
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an account of current trends in auditory research on a level not too technical for the novice, by relating psychological and perceptual aspects of sound to the underlying physiological mechanisms of hearing in a way that the material can be used as a text to accompany an advanced undergraduate or graduate level course in auditory perception.
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Discharge Patterns of Single Fibers in the Cat's Auditory Nerve
TL;DR: In this paper, the discharge patterns of single fibers in cat auditory nerve in response to controlled acoustic stimuli were investigated and shown to be similar to those of human auditory nerve, and they were shown to respond to controlled stimuli.
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