Listeners stream interleaved tones by pitch rather than by ear of delivery

Evidence

In a further experiment, Deutsch (1975) played an ascending and descending C major scale simultaneously with alternate notes being switched between the two ears as shown in the lower part of Figure 5.13. The most commonly perceived response is also shown in the figure. Once again, the high notes tend to be heard in the right ear and the low notes in the left ear, resulting in a snippet of a C major scale being heard in each ear. Such effects are known as “grouping” or “streaming,” and by way of explanation, Deutsch invokes some of the grouping principles of the Gestalt school of psychology known as “good continuation,” “proximity” and “similarity.” — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1620

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘grouping’ or ‘streaming’ and ties it to the Gestalt principles of good continuation, proximity, and similarity.
• XREF: Echoes Bregman’s auditory scene analysis and the classic cocktail-party problem of parsing one voice from a mix. — connects to: Higher-order combination tones can be misheard as actual played notes — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1589; Listeners reconstruct a perceived pitch that is not physically present; Pitch perception differs across listeners despite normal hearing thresholds — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5296 (+19 more)

Broader Connections

• Inharmonic sounds like bells can produce multiple simultaneous pitches #epitomizes (1.00) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1118
• The ear perceives a virtual pitch not physically present in a sound’s components #corroborates (0.95) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 859
• Listeners reconstruct a perceived pitch that is not physically present #corroborates (0.85)
• Pitch perception differs across listeners despite normal hearing thresholds #complicates (0.85) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5296
• Inharmonic tone complexes can yield multiple or virtual perceived pitches #expands (0.85)
• Listeners hear tones that are absent from the presented sound #expands (0.85) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2275
• Perceived pitch depends on listening context, not just the physical spectrum present. #expands (0.85) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2111
• Simultaneously presented tones sharpen pitch discrimination down to beat disappearance #expands (0.85)
• Equal-loudness contours vary greatly across individual listeners #complicates (0.85)
• Perceived pitch depends on a note’s individual overtone amplitudes #expands (0.85) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2418
• Pitch measurement inherently requires subjective listener judgments #qualifies (0.85) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 824
• Pitch differences enable selective listening to one talker amid competing voices #qualifies (0.85)
• Presented together, tones reveal far finer pitch differences via beats than sequential comparison #expands (0.85)
• Summing a signal with its delayed copy creates perceived pitch. #expands (0.85) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1111
• Listener perception of voice pitch can contradict measured pitch #complicates (0.85) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 1716