Noise Masking of a Change in Residue Pitch

Abstract

A comparison was made of the effectiveness of noise in masking (1) a change in the frequency of a sinusoid, and (2) a change in the repetition rate of a pulse train that had no low-frequency energy. The sinusoid and the pulse train had the same pitch. It was found that, whereas the change in the pitch of the sinusoid was better masked by low-frequency noise, the change in the pitch of the filtered pulse train was more easily masked by high-frequency noise. These results indicate that the basis for the low pitch associated with the pulse train is its high-frequency components. This conclusion contradicts the place theory of pitch perception which proposes that the filtered pulse train produced a low pitch because nonlinear distortion in the hearing process introduces a strong low-frequency component. [This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.]