Perceived timbre depends on partial amplitudes but not their phases

Evidence

Although Ohm knew that the timbre of a note is a result of the amplitudes Ai, he assigned no importance to the phases ϕi. Later, Helmholtz made this an explicit principle, asserting that phases did not affect our perception of the tone. We shall call this the Ohm-Helmholtz phase law, which is a corollary of Ohm’s law, since phases are not mentioned in the statement of Ohm’s law. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2208

Categorization

• DEFINE: Names and defines the Ohm-Helmholtz phase law, a core principle of auditory perception.
• XREF: Connects to the earlier chapter’s Ohm’s law; the phase law is presented as a corollary.