Physiological correlates of the perceptual pitch shift for sounds with similar waveform autocorrelation
01 Jan 2004-Acoustics Research Letters Online-arlo (Acoustical Society of America)-Vol. 5, Iss: 1, pp 1-6
TL;DR: A perceptual experiment shows that random click trains with a uniform interclick distribution can be reliably pitch-matched to pseudo-periodic click trains and similar cues are found in either first-order or all-order interspike interval statistics.
Abstract: A perceptual experiment shows that random click trains with a uniform interclick distribution can be reliably pitch-matched to pseudo-periodic click trains. The pitch matches cannot be explained on the basis of mean rate, power spectrum, or autocorrelation of the waveform. The matches are qualitatively, but not quantitatively, consistent with the most common interspike interval present in responses of single units from the ventral cochlear nucleus of anaesthetised guinea pigs. The physiological recordings also demonstrate that at the level of the cochlear nucleus, similar cues are found in either first-order or all-order interspike interval statistics.
Citations
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01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: This chapter addresses how primary auditory cortex activity relates to the perception of stimuli that have been extensively studied behaviorally and psychophysically, and how it relates to well-known psychophysical phenomena associated with perceptually organizing complex ‘auditory scenes’.
Abstract: A fundamental question in auditory neuroscience is how activity in the brain relates to perception and can a causal link be found? Through the years many approaches have been used. Lesion studies and single unit analysis have led to a better understanding of which areas of the brain are involved in sound processing and how these areas represent important sound features. A growing body of evidence supports a role for primary auditory cortex (AI) not only in simply analyzing sounds, but also in integrating more complex aspects of perception and behavior. In the first section of this chapter we will address how AI activity relates to the perception of stimuli that have been extensively studied behaviorally and psychophysically, and how it relates to well-known psychophysical phenomena associated with perceptually organizing complex ‘auditory scenes’. In subsequent sections we address how attributes not directly represented in the stimulus, such as motivation and attention, are potentially represented in auditory cortex, and, finally, how auditory cortical activity is influenced by sensory motor associations, decisions, and rapid adaptive activity. Together this provides a picture of auditory cortical activity as not strictly and statically representing the physical attributes of a stimulus, but rather AI activity reflects parameters related to the perception of the stimulus and task-related parameters required to perform the appropriate behavior and motor action in response to the stimulus.
24 citations
Cites background from "Physiological correlates of the per..."
...Pressnitzer et al. (2001) applied a d’ analysis to cochlear...
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...Another is from single-unit and multiunit responses in various pre-cortical auditory structures (Langner and Schreiner 1988; Pressnitzer et al. 2003; Schreiner and Langner 1988), and recently in the auditory cortex (Bendor and Wang 2005; Schulze and Langner 1997)....
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TL;DR: This study addresses the issue of whether in the light of these challenges the predictive power of autocorrelation can be preserved by changes to the peripheral model and the computational algorithm.
Abstract: Autocorrelation algorithms, in combination with computational models of the auditory periphery, have been successfully used to predict the pitch of a wide range of complex stimuli. However, new stimuli are frequently offered as counterexamples to the viability of this approach. This study addresses the issue of whether in the light of these challenges the predictive power of autocorrelation can be preserved by changes to the peripheral model and the computational algorithm. An existing model is extended by the addition of a low-pass filter of the summary integration of the individual within-channel autocorrelations. Other recent developments are also incorporated, including nonlinear processing on the basilar membrane and the use of integration time constants that are proportional to the autocorrelation lags. The modified and extended model predicts with reasonable success the pitches of a range of stimuli that have proved problematic for earlier implementations of the autocorrelation principle. The evaluation stimuli include short tone sequences, click trains consisting of alternating interclick intervals, click trains consisting of mixtures of regular and irregular intervals, shuffled click trains, and transposed tones.
23 citations
TL;DR: The results are compared to the predictions of a simple model incorporating auditory-nerve (AN) refractoriness, and where pitch is estimated from first-order intervals in the AN response, resulting in a modulated pattern that was independent of overall level.
Abstract: In the “4–6” condition of experiment 1, normal-hearing (NH) listeners compared the pitch of a bandpass-filtered pulse train, whose inter-pulse intervals (IPIs) alternated between 4 and 6ms, to that of isochronous pulse trains Consistent with previous results obtained at a lower signal level, the pitch of the 4–6 stimulus corresponded to that of an isochronous pulse train having a period of 57ms—longer than the mean IPI of 5ms In other conditions the IPI alternated between 35–55 and 45–65ms Experiment 2 was similar but presented electric pulse trains to one channel of a cochlear implant In both cases, as overall IPI increased, the pitch of the alternating-interval stimulus approached that of an isochronous train having a period equal to the mean IPI Experiment 3 measured compound action potentials (CAPs) to alternating-interval stimuli in guinea pigs and in NH listeners The CAPs to pulses occurring after 4-ms intervals were smaller than responses to pulses occurring after 6-ms intervals, resulti
18 citations
TL;DR: Four experiments measured the perceptual and neural correlates of the temporal pattern of electrical stimulation applied to one cochlear-implant (CI) electrode, for several subjects, providing an estimate of the relationship between neural modulation and pitch.
Abstract: Four experiments measured the perceptual and neural correlates of the temporal pattern of electrical stimulation applied to one cochlear-implant (CI) electrode, for several subjects. Neural effects were estimated from the electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) to each pulse. Experiment 1 attenuated every second pulse of a 200-pps pulse train. Increasing attenuation caused pitch to drop and the ECAP to become amplitude modulated, thereby providing an estimate of the relationship between neural modulation and pitch. Experiment 2 showed that the pitch of a 200-pps pulse train can be reduced by delaying every second pulse, so that the inter-pulse-intervals alternate between longer and shorter intervals. This caused the ECAP to become amplitude modulated, but not by enough to account for the change in pitch. Experiment 3 replicated the finding that rate discrimination deteriorates with increases in baseline rate. This was accompanied by an increase in ECAP modulation, but by an amount that produc...
16 citations
References
More filters
TL;DR: Modifications to the fitting procedure are described which allow more accurate derivations of filter shapes derived from data where the notch is always placed symmetrically about the signal frequency and when the underlying filter is markedly asymmetric.
2,456 citations
Book•
01 Jun 1954
TL;DR: On the Sensations of Tone as mentioned in this paper is a classic text for the study of physiological acoustics and aesthetics and has been translated into English in 1875 from the third German edition, making it accessible to nonspecialists.
Abstract: Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–94) was a leading scientist who made important contributions to physiology, psychology, physics, philosophy and early neuroscience. Following his foundational work in ophthalmics during the 1850s, he became Professor of Physiology at Heidelberg and, in 1863, published On the Sensations of Tone. This investigation into the physical theory of music remains a central text for the study of physiological acoustics and aesthetics. In it, Helmholtz applies physics, anatomy and physiology. He explains how tones are built from a base tone with upper partial tones, and his later discussions on consonance and musical scales develop this theory and discuss how the ear perceives these tones. His work on consonance and dissonance was of particular interest to composers and musicologists well into the twentieth century. This English translation, published in 1875 from the third German edition, retains the original's straightforward language, making this classic work accessible to non-specialists.
867 citations
"Physiological correlates of the per..." refers background in this paper
...Licklider (1951) proposed autocorrelation as a way to detect all types of regularities present in neural spike trains....
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TL;DR: A theory was formulated for the central formation of the pitch of complex tones, i.e., periodicity pitch, which is a logical deduction from statistical estimation theory of the optimal estimate for fundamental frequency.
Abstract: A comprehensive theory is formulated for the central formation of the pitch of complex tones, i.e., periodicity pitch [Schouten, Ritsma, and Cardozo, J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 34, 1418–1424 (1962)]. This theory is a logical deduction from statistical estimation theory of the optimal estimate for fundamental frequency, when this estimate is constrained in ways inferred from empirical phenomena. The basic constraints are (i) the estimator receives noisy information on the frequencies, but not amplitudes and phases, of aurally resolvable simple tones from the stimulus and its aural combination tones, and (ii) the estimator presumes all stimuli are periodic with spectra comprising successive harmonics. The stochastic signals representing the frequencies of resolved tones are characterized by independent Gaussian distributions with mean equal to the frequency represented and a variance that serves as free parameter. The theory is applicable whether frequency is coded by place or time. Optimum estimates of fundamental frequency and harmonic numbers are calculated upon each stimulus presentation. Multimodal probability distributions for the estimated fundamental are predicted in consequence of variability in the estimated harmonic numbers. Quantification of the variance parameter from musical intelligibility data in Houtsma and Goldstein [J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 51, 520–529 (1972)] shows it to be dependent upon the frequency represented and not upon other stimulus frequencies. The quantified optimum processor theory consolidates known data on pitch of complex tones.
542 citations
"Physiological correlates of the per..." refers background in this paper
...However, the validity of the autocorrelation model has been questioned in several studies....
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TL;DR: Of the two methods, one--frequency analysis performed by an array of band-pass filters--has been incorporated into auditory theory, and the possibility that the other method, autocorrelationaI analysis, plays a role in the auditory process has been neglected.
Abstract: In the theories of pitch perception now widely supported, pitch is regarded as a unitary attribute of auditory experience. There is good evidence, however, that there are actually two pitch‐like attributes, and it is reasonable to suppose that the duplexity of pitch is a reflection of duplexity in the auditory process. The first step in the process is analysis in frequency, performed by the cochlea, which distributes stimulus components of various frequencies to spatially separated channels. The second step, according to the scheme postulated here, is autocorrelational analysis, performed by the neural part of the auditory system, of the signal in each frequency channel. The basic operations of autocorrelational analysis are delay, multiplication, and integration. The nervous system is nicely set up to perform these operations. A chain of neurons makes an excellent delay line. The spatial aspect of synaptic summation provides something very close to multiplication. And the temporal aspect of synaptic summation is essentially running integration. The duplex theory suggests, therefore, that neural circuits following the autocorrelation model supplement the cochlear frequency analysis. The postulated neural autocorrelator of course does not compute autocorrelation functions of the acoustic stimulus: it operates upon afferent neural signals. Because the markedly non‐linear process of neural excitation intervenes between the stimulus and the autocorrelation, the latter gives rise in certain instances to pitches that are not readily explained if the relatively linear cochlear analysis is considered to be the only one. “The case of the missing fundamental” and Schouten's residue effect, for example, are readily accounted for by the duplex theory. In addition, the theory provides a rational basis for the octave relation and for the consonance of other simple harmonic relations.
541 citations
TL;DR: The temporal discharge patterns of auditory nerve fibers in Dial-anesthetized cats were studied in response to periodic complex acoustic waveforms that evoke pitches at their fundamental frequencies, suggesting that existence of a central processor capable of analyzing these interval patterns could provide a unified explanation for many different aspects of pitch perception.
Abstract: 1. The temporal discharge patterns of auditory nerve fibers in Dial-anesthetized cats were studied in response to periodic complex acoustic waveforms that evoke pitches at their fundamental frequencies. Single-formant vowels, amplitude-modulated (AM) and quasi-frequency-modulated tones. AM noise, click trains, and other complex tones were utilized. Distributions of intervals between successive spikes ("1st-order intervals") and between both successive and nonsuccessive spikes ("all-order intervals") were computed from spike trains. Intervals from many fibers were pooled to estimate interspike interval distributions for the entire auditory nerve. Properties of these "pooled interspike interval distributions," such as the positions of interval peaks and their relative heights, were examined for correspondence to the psychophysical data on pitch frequency and pitch salience. 2. For a diverse set of complex stimuli and levels, the most frequent all-order interspike interval present in the pooled distribution corresponded to the pitch heard in psychophysical experiments. Pitch estimates based on pooled interval distributions (30-85 fibers, 100 stimulus presentations per fiber) were highly accurate (within 1%) for harmonic stimuli that produce strong pitches at 60 dB SPL. 3. Although the most frequent intervals in pooled all-order interval distributions were very stable with respect to sound intensity level (40, 60, and 80 dB total SPL), this was not necessarily the case for first-order interval distributions. Because the low pitches of complex tones are largely invariant with respect to level, pitches estimated from all-order interval distributions correspond better to perception. 4. Spectrally diverse stimuli that evoke similar low pitches produce pooled interval distributions with similar most-frequent intervals. This suggests that the pitch equivalence of these different stimuli could result from central auditory processing mechanisms that analyze interspike interval patterns. 5. Complex stimuli that evoke strong or "salient" pitches produce pooled interval distributions with high peak-to-mean ratios. Those stimuli that evoke weak pitches produce pooled interval distributions with low peak-to-mean ratios. 6. Pooled interspike interval distributions for stimuli consisting of low-frequency components generally resembled the short-time auto-correlation function of stimulus waveforms. Pooled interval distributions for stimuli consisting of high-frequency components resembled the short-time autocorrelation function of the waveform envelope. 7. Interval distributions in populations of neurons constitute a general, distributed means of encoding, transmitting, and representing information. Existence of a central processor capable of analyzing these interval patterns could provide a unified explanation for many different aspects of pitch perception.
437 citations
"Physiological correlates of the per..." refers background in this paper
...The peak in autocorrelations of auditory nerve spike trains was found to produce correct pitch estimates for a wide range of stimuli (Cariani and Delgutte, 1996)....
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