Clear pitch perception depends on periodic repetition of the pressure wave

Evidence

When we listen to a note played on a musical instrument and we perceive it as having a clear unambiguous musical pitch, this is because that instrument produces an acoustic pressure wave which repeats regularly. … Each section that repeats is known as a “cycle” and the time for which each cycle lasts is known as the “fundamental period” or “period” of the waveform. The number of cycles which occur in one second gives the fundamental frequency of the note in hertz (or Hz). The fundamental frequency is often notated as “f0”, pronounced “F zero” or “F nought”, a practice which will be used throughout the rest of this book. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 774

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines cycle, fundamental period, and fundamental frequency (f0) — core psychoacoustic vocabulary for the book’s project.
• XREF: Directly supports the reader’s stated goal of interpreting life through sound: clear pitch = temporal regularity, a foundational principle for how auditory perception reads order. — connects to: Autocorrelation predicts perceived pitch of non-harmonic partial groups; Qualitative pitch mirrors the qualitative nature of autocorrelation peaks; Sitting near walls creates repetition-pitch coloration in perceived sound (+15 more)
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 774

Broader Connections

• Periodic pressure waves are perceived as pitched while nonperiodic ones are not #corroborates (0.95) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 826
• Clear musical pitch arises from regularly repeating acoustic waveforms #corroborates (0.92)
• Pitch of periodic sounds is determinable from the waveform’s cycle period #expands (0.85) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 909
• Pitch perception depends on harmonics being integer multiples of the fundamental #qualifies (0.75) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 864