Pitch and Pitch Perception

Abstract

This chapter addresses sensation and perception of pitch mainly from a functional perspective. Anatomical and physiological facts concerning the auditory pathway are provided to the extent necessary to understand excitation processes resulting from sound energy in the middle ear as well as within the cochlea. Place coding and temporal coding of sound features is viewed in regard to frequency and period as two parameters relevant for pitch perception. The Wiener–Khintchine theorem is taken as a basis to explain the correspondence between temporal periodicity and spectral harmonicity as two principles fundamental to perception of pitch and timbre. The basics of some models of the auditory periphery suited to extracting pitch from complex sounds either in the time or in the frequency domain will be outlined along with examples demonstrating how such models work for certain sounds. Sections of this chapter also address tone height and tonal quality as components of pitch as well as the rather dubious nature of the so-called tone chroma. Issues such as isolating tone quality from height (as in Shepard tones) and an alleged preference of subjects for stretched octaves are covered in a critical assessment. A subchapter on psychophysics includes just-noticeable difference (JNDjust-noticeable difference (JND)) and difference limen (DLdifferencelimen (DL)) for pitch, the concept of auditory filters known as critical bands, the sensation of roughness and dissonance as well as special pitch phenomena (the residue and the missing fundamental, the concept of virtual pitch, combination tones). Another section covers spectral fusion, Stumpf's concept of Verschmelzung, and the sensation of consonance. Further, there are sections on categorical pitch perception as well as on absolute and relative pitch followed by a brief survey of scale types, tone systems and intonation. The chapter closes with a section on geometric pitch models and some basic features of tonality in music.