Envelope and fine structure are mathematically orthogonal but not perceptually independent

Evidence

An amplitude-modulated sound is described in two parts: the envelope (or modulator), the portion of the stimulus that slowly varies over time, and the fine structure (or carrier), the portion of the stimulus with rapid pressure fluctuations. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 997 (#expands, via linked claim)

Acoustic signals can be decomposed into temporal envelope (E) and fine structure (FS). Previous studies have demonstrated that E is sufficient for speech perception (Shannon et al. 1995 ; Apoux et al. 2013 ), while FS is important for pitch perception (Smith et al. 2002 ) and lexical tone perception (Xu and Pfingst 2003 ). — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3381 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Spectral envelope, not fine structure, determines perceived sharpness — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1340; Sharpness depends on the spectral envelope, not fine structure; Envelope and temporal fine structure exist at three distinct processing levels — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 794 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Temporal envelope suffices for speech while fine structure carries pitch information #expands (0.85) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3381
• Amplitude-modulated sounds split into slow-varying envelope and fast-varying fine structure #expands (0.85) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 997
• Fine structure dominates lexical tone perception in normal hearing but is lost in ANSD #expands (0.82)
• Fine-structure cues carry Mandarin tone perception, not envelope cues #expands (0.80) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3388
• Stimulus envelope, not temporal fine structure, counts as temporal information #qualifies (0.80)
• Phase-locking limits matter far less when envelope-fine-structure interaction encodes pitch #expands (0.80) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4660
• DLF thresholds reflect temporal fine structure processing, not frequency selectivity #expands (0.75)
• The central debate in pitch perception is whether humans are essentially walking Fourier analyzers #expands (0.75)
• Pitch perception depends on harmonics being integer multiples of the fundamental #complicates (0.72) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 864