Sounds with steep spectral peaks evoke stronger pitch than sounds with narrow spectral notches.

Evidence

When comparing the spectra of peaked ripple noise displayed in Fig. 5.17 and of comb-filtered noise displayed in Fig. 5.24 (sound 9), the two sounds show a figure-ground relation: peaked ripple noise shows sharp spectral peaks and broad spectral valleys, whereas comb-filtered noise shows broad spectral peaks and narrow spectral valleys. Because the pitch strength of peaked ripple noise is larger by a factor of more than 5 than that of comb-filtered noise, it can be assumed that large pitch strength is produced by sounds containing narrow bands with steep spectral slopes rather than by narrow gaps. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 830

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• DEEPTHINKING: A figure-ground asymmetry in pitch perception: steep ‘positive’ spectral features carry pitch far better than the complementary steep ‘negative’ gaps — a non-obvious asymmetry that bears on how the auditory system codes spectral edges.
• XREF: Echoes of figure-ground processing in visual and multisensory perception; also connects to Gabor-filter and spectral-edge coding models in auditory neuroscience.

Related

• Narrow spectral bands with steep slopes produce stronger pitch than narrow spectral gaps do (similarity 0.97)
• Ripple-noise pitch strength grows linearly with log spectral modulation depth beyond 10 dB (similarity 0.86)
• Noise with a sharp spectral peak is perceived as pitched. (similarity 0.85)
• Steep low-pass noise slopes yield pitch strength far below that of a pure tone (similarity 0.85)
• Even very steep low-pass noise slopes produce pitch far weaker than a pure tone. (similarity 0.85)
• Sharp spectral peaks, not narrow gaps, drive strong pitch perception (similarity 0.84)
• Peaked ripple noise pitch strength stays stable across a wide level range (similarity 0.83)
• Steep-filtered noise produces pitch matching the filter’s cut-off frequency (similarity 0.83)
• Even nonperiodic noise sounds convey a weak pitch sensation based on spectral energy distribution (similarity 0.83)
• Pitch resolution exceeds smeared bandwidth via peak-locating algorithms (similarity 0.82)
• Continuous-spectrum noises can carry pitch perceived from spectral peaks (similarity 0.82)
• Even noise without periodic waveforms can carry a weak sense of pitch. (similarity 0.81)
• Trained listeners perceive flat spectra from loudspeakers whose on-axis response is flat (similarity 0.80)
• Ripple-noise pitch strength stays level-independent across a 40 dB range. (similarity 0.80)
• Wide frequency modulation of noise cutoff greatly amplifies perceived pitch strength (similarity 0.80)