On the role of spatial and temporal cues in the perception of the pitch of complex tones

Abstract

This paper describes a new approach to pitch perception. It focuses attention on the slight difference between the pitch of complex tone and the pitch of a pure tone with the same (fundamental) frequency. This approach is based on the assumption that pitch perception is based on both spatial and temporal cue analysis. In this study, the values provided by the temporal cue are calculated from physiological data from the auditory nerve fibers. The possible ratios of the pitch of complex tones relative to the pitch of pure tones at various frequencies are predicted. Psychophysical experimental results strongly support this prediction. In addition, another experiment suggests that the above psychophysical effect is not based upon a mutual masking effect in the spatial domain.