A melody remains recognizable from a single non-octave harmonic alone

Evidence

The tune is still perceivable when the stops reinforcing th e low harmonics are removed, even when only the one harmonic (the ninth) remains, and it is a mutation (not a whole number of octaves away from the fundam ental). When the accompaniment is removed, the pitch of the melody is som ewhat ambiguous . — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 3024

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to virtual pitch / periodicity pitch theory — the brain reconstructing a fundamental from sparse harmonics — the psychoacoustic basis of telephony and compressed audio codecs. — connects to: The kettledrum outputs a missing-harmonic series yet still conveys a clear pitch — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1306
• QUESTION: How far can harmonic stripping go before recognition collapses, and does it vary across contours of the melody?