Place theory cannot fully explain how pitch is extracted from components

Evidence

The place theory provides a basis for understanding how f0 could be found from a frequency analysis of components. However, there are a number of problems with the place theory because it does not explain: n the fine degree of accuracy observed in human pitch perception; n pitch perception of sounds whose frequency components are not n the pitch perceived for some sounds which have continuous (non- n pitch perception for sounds with an f0 less than 50 Hz. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 875

Pitch perception in all the cases presented so far, except for the SAM noise case, can be explained using the place theory of pitch perception, where the location of the maxima in the place-dependent response of the basilar membrane is responsible for the percept. However, as shown in Figure 7.12, the activation of the basilar membrane spreads to a larger range with an increase in level of the stimulus, and one could expect that the perceived pitch would change noticeably if only the maximum of the activation in frequency defined the perception of pitch. Such a noticeable change in pitch depending on the level does not occur, and another process is likely to be involved in pitch perception. There exist many other cases where the place theory does not at all explain the perception. A simple case is a harmonic sound, where the partials at higher frequencies are dominant. The perceived pitch follows the fundamental frequency in many cases, although the centre of gravity of the spectrum is elsewhere (Plack et al., 2005). — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1114

Categorization

• QUESTION: The problems listed next set up the case for why place theory alone fails — worth reading on to catalogue them.
• XREF: Place theory limitations echo timbre/loudness independence themes in the reader’s earlier excerpt on perceived-loudness scales. — connects to: Only two classical theories, place and temporal, explain pitch tracking. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 834
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 875; Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1114