Only harmonics below the fifth to seventh are resolved individually by hearing

Evidence

A psychoacoustic description of timbre perception must be based on the nature of the critical bandwidth variation with frequency, since this describes the nature of the spectral analysis carried out by the hearing system. The variation in critical bandwidth is such that it becomes wider with increasing frequency, and the general conclusion was drawn in the section on pitch perception in Chapter 3 (Section 3.2) that no harmonic above about the fifth to seventh is resolved no matter the value of f0. Harmonics below the fifth to seventh are therefore resolved separately by the hearing system (e.g., see Figure 3.11), which suggests that these harmonics might play a distinct and individual role in timbre perception. Harmonics above the fifth or seventh, on the other hand, which are not separately isolated by the hearing system, are not likely to have such a strong individual effect on timbre perception, but could affect it as groups that lie within a particular critical band. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1473 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Unresolved harmonics smear together as frequency rises; Only the first five to seven harmonics are resolved regardless of fundamental; Only the first five to seven harmonics are resolved by the ear’s place mechanism (+6 more)

Related

• Only the first five to seven harmonics are resolved regardless of fundamental (similarity 0.98)
• Only harmonics below the fifth to seventh are individually resolved in timbre perception (similarity 0.96)
• Only the first five to seven harmonics are resolved by the ear’s place mechanism (similarity 0.96)
• Harmonics resolve only while their spacing exceeds the ear’s ERB (similarity 0.93)
• Timbre reduces to a weighted ratio of fundamental and resolved versus unresolved harmonics (similarity 0.91)
• Timbre perception arises from basilar membrane vibration patterns, not pitch alone (similarity 0.87)
• Only low-numbered harmonics are resolved, higher ones blur together in the internal representation (similarity 0.87)
• Consonance perception depends on harmonics up to about the seventh (similarity 0.87)
• Unresolved harmonics smear together as frequency rises (similarity 0.85)
• A filter resolves a harmonic it is centered on even when bandwidth exceeds spacing (similarity 0.83)
• Hearing resolves close tones through beats, rough fusion, then separation bands (similarity 0.82)
• Helmholtz’s 1877 timbre rules anticipated modern psychoacoustic understanding (similarity 0.81)
• Place coding of fundamental pitch fails at high frequencies when harmonics smear together (similarity 0.81)
• The auditory system can extract pitch from resolved low-frequency harmonics using place patterns (similarity 0.81)
• Helmholtz’s 1877 timbre rules remain valid despite predating critical bandwidth theory (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Only harmonics separated by more than the ear’s critical bandwidth are resolved #corroborates (0.95)
• Only harmonics below the fifth to seventh are individually resolved in timbre perception #corroborates (0.95) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1473
• Harmonics resolve only while their spacing exceeds the ear’s ERB #corroborates (0.85)
• Consonance perception depends on harmonics up to about the seventh #expands (0.80)
• Dark or dull timbres lack energy in harmonics above the seventh #expands (0.80)