Two competing theories explain how the ear tracks pitch

Evidence

Two basic theories of pitch perception have been proposed to explain how the human hearing system is able to locate and track changes in the f0 of an input sound: the “place” theory and the “temporal” theory. These are described in what follows along with their limitations in terms of explaining observed pitch perception effects. … The place theory of pitch perception relates directly to the frequency analysis carried out by the basilar membrane in which different frequency components of the input sound stimulate different positions, or places, on the membrane. Neural firing occurs at each of these places, indicating higher centers of neural processing in the brain which frequency components are present in the input sound. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 830

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the place vs. temporal dichotomy that organizes the whole pitch-perception literature.
• XREF: connects to: Only two classical theories, place and temporal, explain pitch tracking. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 834; Pitch perception is explained by two competing physiological models of the inner ear — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 892