Missing fundamental pitch survives even when cochlear distortion is masked out

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

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines residue pitch / pitch of the missing fundamental and its historical proof.
• SEED: Angle: the missing fundamental as an existence-proof that perception constructs pitch rather than merely reads acoustic place — relevant to designing aids for hearing-impaired listeners.