The auditory system performs pitch analysis as autocorrelation per sub-band, summed into a correlogram.

Evidence

If pitch is not determined by periodicity, perhaps then by autocorrelation? Now we are getting somewhere. The first major peak in the autocorrelation after the ever-present peak at time 0 in the preceding example occurs at 0.00956 second, which corresponds to 104.6 Hz. If sounds resolve into several distinct pitches, these will have corresponding peaks in the autocorrelation. Pitch is associated with something more important than the presence or absence of a single partial: its tendency to repeat itself at given intervals. The generalization of this concept to sounds that are not strictly periodic is the autocorrelation function. Periodic signals will always have peaks at multiples of the period that mirror the peak at time zero. The analogs of such periodicity are peaks in the autocorrelation of nonperiodic signals. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2033 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Autocorrelation-based analysis has proven to be able to explain several phenomena of pitch perception (Plack et al., 2005). In addition, such models can be applied to segregate different sound sources, particularly to segregate concurrent vowel sounds from each other when the sounds differ in terms of the fundamental frequency (Meddis and Hewitt, 1992). — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1658 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Autocorrelation predicts pitch yet met lukewarm reception — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2085; Qualitative pitch mirrors the qualitative nature of autocorrelation peaks; Pitch may be jointly coded by temporal patterns and their cochlear location — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1338 (+6 more)

Related

• Pitch perception corresponds to peaks in the autocorrelation function (similarity 0.94)
• Qualitative pitch mirrors the qualitative nature of autocorrelation peaks (similarity 0.93)
• Pitch is a human synthesis keyed to autocorrelation, not pure physics (similarity 0.92)
• Autocorrelation predicts pitch yet met lukewarm reception (similarity 0.91)
• Autocorrelation predicts perceived pitch of non-harmonic partial groups (similarity 0.91)
• Pitch perception can be modeled by autocorrelation across auditory filter bands (similarity 0.90)
• Autocorrelation models explain pitch and can separate concurrent vowel sounds differing in fundamental frequency (similarity 0.89)
• The auditory system can be modeled as computing autocorrelation functions per frequency band (similarity 0.89)
• Autocorrelation, proposed in 1951, remains essential to pitch perception theory (similarity 0.88)
• Dominant pitch models derive pitch from auditory nerve spike timing. (similarity 0.88)
• Pitch resolution exceeds smeared bandwidth via peak-locating algorithms (similarity 0.87)
• Higher partials dominate pitch because their sharper autocorrelation peaks win (similarity 0.87)
• No neural evidence supports autocorrelation models of pitch at the brainstem (similarity 0.87)
• Perceived pitch is set primarily by fundamental frequency. (similarity 0.86)
• Autocorrelation nearly perfectly predicts perceived residue pitch across a range of tone series. (similarity 0.86)

Broader Connections

• Pitch perception corresponds to peaks in the autocorrelation function #corroborates (0.95) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2033
• Autocorrelation models explain pitch and can separate concurrent vowel sounds differing in fundamental frequency #expands (0.90) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1658
• Autocorrelation predicts perceived pitch of non-harmonic partial groups #expands (0.85)
• Pitch perception involves both spectral and temporal representations of sound #expands (0.85) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4638
• Pitch perception is encoded by the timing of neural firing in the cochlea #exemplifies (0.75) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1655