Correct theories of pitch perception were suppressed by Helmholtz’s authority

Evidence

In 1940, Schouten observed that Helmholtz’s version of the place model could not account for the pitch of a complex sound when the harmonic associated with the fundamental frequency was removed (Schouten, 1940). Schouten dubbed this phenomenon the residue pitch, also sometimes called the pitch of the missing fundamental. One hypothesis explaining the residue pitch was related to Helmholtz’s theory: The residue pitch occurred because distortion in the cochlea yielded a traveling wave representation at the location corresponding to the fundamental frequency. However, in 1954, Licklider demonstrated that a residue pitch still was perceivable even when a low-frequency noise was added that would have masked any representation of that component (Licklider, 1954). This put the nail in the coffin on the distortion hypothesis and confirmed that Helmholtz’s theory of pitch perception was incomplete and insufficient. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1286 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Listen carefully for the presence of a 200 Hz sinusoidal partial with only partials 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, and 1400 present. You won’t hear a 200 Hz partial at low sound intensities, yet a 200 Hz pitch will prevail. The 200 Hz partial is not there in the original sound, nor is it created for us by any part of the hearing system from the outer ear to the auditory cortex. What is created by that system is the sensation we call pitch. Pitch is not partial. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2031 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

In figure 3.11, the smaller fork is vibrating faster than the larger fork by factor of exactly 3/2. Using f1 = 200 and f2 = 300, the displacement of the smaller tines reads … Notice that it is perfectly periodic. Its frequency is 100 Hz, lower than either the 200 Hz or the 300 Hz component. The two waves return to their starting phase at the same time after three periods of the 300 Hz wave and two periods of the 200 Hz wave; this time is 0.01 second, corresponding to a frequency of 100 Hz. Here is the first hint of a crucial issue, one that extends to theories of music and hearing. If any single pitch can be associated with this combination, it is certainly 100 Hz, but there is no 100 Hz frequency present at all. One can also easily “hear out,” as it is called, the 200 and 300 Hz “atomic” components as individual sinusoidal pure tones embedded in the “molecular” whole. There is much more evidence to present regarding pitch perception, and we leave this subject for a full discussion in chapter 23. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 323 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Helmholtz failed to treat pitch as one of his own epistemological tokens.; Helmholtz wrongly assumed every heard pitch requires a physically present partial; The residue pitch refuted Helmholtz’s place theory of pitch percept. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1286 (+6 more)

Related

• Helmholtz wrongly assumed every heard pitch requires a physically present partial (similarity 0.96)
• The residue pitch refuted Helmholtz’s place theory of pitch percept. (similarity 0.92)
• Place theory cannot account for level-independent pitch, so other mechanisms must operate (similarity 0.91)
• The central debate in pitch perception is whether humans are essentially walking Fourier analyzers (similarity 0.89)
• Helmholtz never clearly separated perceived pitch from the presence of a matching physical partial (similarity 0.88)
• Highest common factor of partials encodes perceived pitch (similarity 0.87)
• Residue pitch is computed in the auditory cortex within a tenth of a second (similarity 0.87)
• Pitch can be perceived even when no partial exists at that frequency (similarity 0.87)
• Helmholtz’s nonlinear-interaction theory of missing fundamentals is untenable (similarity 0.87)
• A perceived pitch can exist with no partial at its own frequency. (similarity 0.86)
• The ear perceives a virtual pitch not physically present in a sound’s components (similarity 0.86)
• Place and timing theories fail to explain some complex pitch perception phenomena (similarity 0.86)
• Missing fundamental pitch survives even when cochlear distortion is masked out (similarity 0.86)
• Missing-fundamental pitch does not involve hearing an actual sinusoidal partial (similarity 0.86)
• Pitch is perceptual while frequency is acoustic, and not all sounds have pitch (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• The residue pitch refuted Helmholtz’s place theory of pitch percept. #exemplifies (0.85) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1286
• A combined waveform can produce a perceived pitch absent from its actual frequency components #exemplifies (0.80) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 323
• Pitch can be perceived even when no partial exists at that frequency #exemplifies (0.80) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2031
• Place and timing theories fail to explain some complex pitch perception phenomena #exemplifies (0.78) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 907
• Adding higher partials can drop the perceived pitch of a tone #exemplifies (0.78) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2067
• Weak musical pitch perception can persist without peripheral phase locking. #exemplifies (0.75) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5420