Cubic difference tones reveal nonlinear cochlear mechanics even at low sound levels

Evidence

An interesting kind of combination tone is the cubic difference tone, fcubic = 2f1 −f2. For example, frequencies f1 = 1.0 kHz and f2 = 1.1 kHz create fcubic = (2 · 1.0 −1.1) kHz = 0.9 kHz. Cubic difference tones are already generated at low levels of excitation, which is in contrast to the general behaviour of non-linear distortion. Therefore, studying non-linear cochlear mechanics with the cubic difference tone phenomenon has been of special interest. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 774

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the cubic difference tone formula fcubic = 2f1-f2 and why its low-excitation generation is anomalous.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 774