The residue pitch refuted Helmholtz’s place theory of pitch percept.

Evidence

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

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines residue pitch and the pitch of the missing fundamental, the key term introduced here.
• XREF: This historical falsification of the place model via masking connects to how modern dual place/temporal theories are framed in later chapters and to similar theory-replacement arcs in hearing science. — connects to: The central debate in pitch perception is whether humans are essentially walking Fourier analyzers; Residue pitch is computed in the auditory cortex within a tenth of a second; Helmholtz wrongly assumed every heard pitch requires a physically present partial (+10 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1286

Broader Connections

• Place theory claims pitch is encoded by basilar membrane position #responds-to (0.95)
• Pitch can be perceived even when no partial exists at that frequency #corroborates (0.90) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2031
• Phase locking fails above 5 kHz, so high-pitch perception relies on place theory #qualifies (0.85)
• Pitch maps to repetition frequency but is not a simple physical property. #corroborates (0.80)
• Pitch perception corresponds to peaks in the autocorrelation function #corroborates (0.80) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2033
• Hearing analyzes pitch through both place and timing mechanisms #corroborates (0.80)