Simulation refractory periods do not capture real auditory phase-locking constraints

Evidence

The results showed that, on average, subjects selected similar frequencies in a musical interval adjustment task irrespective of whether the reference tone was a ZT or an equally salient pure tone. The adjusted frequencies were slightly flat in both cases. This might partly result from subjects’ bias towards a “just scale” with musical intervals corresponding to integer ratios of 6/5 and 3/2 for the minor third and the perfect fifth, respectively. If this was the only underlying reason, the “bias” should have been larger for the minor third than for the perfect fifth, which was not observed. The SDs of the musical interval adjustments were only slightly larger (a factor of 1.1–2.2) for the ZTs than for the PTs, with no increase in listening time. Thus, overall the results suggest that a weak musical pitch can exist in the absence of peripheral phase locking. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5420 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

The temporal theory of pitch perception is based on the fact that the waveform of a sound with a strong musical pitch repeats or is periodic (see Table 3.2). An example is shown in Figure 3.1 for A4 played on four instruments. The f0 for a periodic sound can be found from a measurement of the period of a cycle of the waveform using Equation 3.1. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 909 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Computational simulation can generate testable hypotheses about auditory physiology; Weak musical pitch perception can persist without peripheral phase locking. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5420; Phase locking fails above 5 kHz, so high-pitch perception relies on place theory (+2 more)

Related

• Weak musical pitch perception can persist without peripheral phase locking. (similarity 0.88)
• Musically trained listeners judge ZT musical intervals accurately despite missing phase locking. (similarity 0.88)
• A weak musical pitch can exist without peripheral phase locking. (similarity 0.86)
• Experienced listeners preserve octave judgment precision at 5 kHz where phase locking degrades. (similarity 0.86)
• Low-frequency pitch judgments reflect temporal fine structure via neural phase locking (similarity 0.85)
• Auditory nerve phase locking fails at high frequencies, leaving only the place code (similarity 0.84)
• Phase invariance of pitch might arise from some neurons always entracking (similarity 0.83)
• Phase-locked neural timing underlies musical pitch and is limited above 4-5 kHz. (similarity 0.83)
• Phase-locking limits matter far less when envelope-fine-structure interaction encodes pitch (similarity 0.83)
• Phase locking fails above 5 kHz, so high-pitch perception relies on place theory (similarity 0.82)
• High-pitched sounds above 5 kHz offer few harmonics, so pitch perception degrades sharply. (similarity 0.82)
• Musically trained listeners can judge pitch intervals even above the phase-locking limit (similarity 0.81)
• Perception of changing sound requires simultaneous time and frequency resolution (similarity 0.81)
• Raising fundamental frequency worsens pitch perception by reducing harmonic resolvability (similarity 0.80)
• Even noise without periodic waveforms can carry a weak sense of pitch. (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Phase locking fails above 5 kHz, so high-pitch perception relies on place theory #complicates (0.85)
• Weak musical pitch perception can persist without peripheral phase locking. #qualifies (0.78) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5420
• Pitch of periodic sounds is determinable from the waveform’s cycle period #expands (0.75) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 909