The central debate in pitch perception is whether humans are essentially walking Fourier analyzers

Evidence

Listen carefully for the presence of a 200 Hz sinusoidal partial with only partials 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, and 1400 present. You won’t hear a 200 Hz partial at low sound intensities, yet a 200 Hz pitch will prevail. The 200 Hz partial is not there in the original sound, nor is it created for us by any part of the hearing system from the outer ear to the auditory cortex. What is created by that system is the sensation we call pitch. Pitch is not partial. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2031 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

In 1940, Schouten observed that Helmholtz’s version of the place model could not account for the pitch of a complex sound when the harmonic associated with the fundamental frequency was removed (Schouten, 1940). Schouten dubbed this phenomenon the residue pitch, also sometimes called the pitch of the missing fundamental. One hypothesis explaining the residue pitch was related to Helmholtz’s theory: The residue pitch occurred because distortion in the cochlea yielded a traveling wave representation at the location corresponding to the fundamental frequency. However, in 1954, Licklider demonstrated that a residue pitch still was perceivable even when a low-frequency noise was added that would have masked any representation of that component (Licklider, 1954). This put the nail in the coffin on the distortion hypothesis and confirmed that Helmholtz’s theory of pitch perception was incomplete and insufficient. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1286 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Pitch perception depends on harmonics being integer multiples of the fundamental — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 864; Pitch perception involves both spectral and temporal representations of sound — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4638; Place and timing theories fail to explain some complex pitch perception phenomena — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 907 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Hearing analyzes pitch through both place and timing mechanisms #expands (0.85)
• Pitch can be perceived even when no partial exists at that frequency #corroborates (0.85) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2031
• Pitch perception involves both spectral and temporal representations of sound #expands (0.80) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4638
• The residue pitch refuted Helmholtz’s place theory of pitch percept. #corroborates (0.80) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1286
• Pitch perception corresponds to peaks in the autocorrelation function #corroborates (0.80) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2033
• Pitch may be jointly coded by temporal patterns and their cochlear location #corroborates (0.80) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1338
• Pitch perception depends on harmonics being integer multiples of the fundamental #qualifies (0.75) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 864
• Place and timing theories fail to explain some complex pitch perception phenomena #expands (0.75) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 907
• Human pitch discrimination far exceeds the ear’s filter resolution #expands (0.75) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 880
• Pitch perception requires a tone lasting at least two signal periods #qualifies (0.72) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1088
• Relative pitch perception resists explanation by invariant interval ratios #expands (0.72) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5327