Unresolved harmonics smear together as frequency rises

Evidence

In the place model, the excitation pattern is used, which is a representation of the power at the output of the auditory filter bank. The excitation pattern in Figure 6–7 reveals the two possible place models: an excitation pattern peak at 100 Hz, and a representation of the integer-multiple harmonics in the low frequencies. Note that the low-frequency harmonics are resolved, meaning that their peaks are represented in the excitation pattern. We can see the peaks at 100, 200, and 300 Hz and so on. However, these peaks reduce in size as the frequency of the harmonics increase, due to the broadening of frequency selectivity with increasing frequency. At some point, around the 10th harmonic, we observe that the high frequency components are no longer resolved. The frequencies within the stimulus are so close together that their representations are smeared together. A complex place model that recognizes patterns would be capable of extracting the resolved frequencies present in the stimulus using the low-frequency filters. Using this information, the auditory system could calculate the greatest common frequency and determine the pitch. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1226

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• DEFINE: Defines the excitation pattern and explains how harmonic resolution degrades with frequency

Related

• Low harmonics are resolved in the excitation pattern but smear beyond the tenth harmonic. (similarity 0.90)
• The auditory system can extract pitch from resolved low-frequency harmonics using place patterns (similarity 0.89)
• Only the first five to seven harmonics are resolved regardless of fundamental (similarity 0.88)
• Place coding of fundamental pitch fails at high frequencies when harmonics smear together (similarity 0.88)
• Only the first five to seven harmonics are resolved by the ear’s place mechanism (similarity 0.88)
• Only low-numbered harmonics are resolved, higher ones blur together in the internal representation (similarity 0.87)
• Harmonics resolve only while their spacing exceeds the ear’s ERB (similarity 0.87)
• Only harmonics below the fifth to seventh are resolved individually by hearing (similarity 0.85)
• Only harmonics below the fifth to seventh are individually resolved in timbre perception (similarity 0.83)
• Rising F0 lowers resolved harmonic interactions and worsens pitch extraction (similarity 0.83)
• A filter resolves a harmonic it is centered on even when bandwidth exceeds spacing (similarity 0.83)
• Resolved harmonics use place pitch coding while unresolved harmonics use temporal coding (similarity 0.83)
• Resolved low-numbered harmonics are required to encode pitch by place (similarity 0.82)
• The ear’s frequency resolution worsens progressively at higher frequencies. (similarity 0.82)
• Only harmonics separated by more than the ear’s critical bandwidth are resolved (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Harmonics are unresolved when critical bandwidth exceeds harmonic spacing. #expands (0.95) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 883
• Harmonics resolve only while their spacing exceeds the ear’s ERB #corroborates (0.95) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1505
• Only harmonics separated by more than the ear’s critical bandwidth are resolved #corroborates (0.95) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 881
• Place coding of fundamental pitch fails at high frequencies when harmonics smear together #complicates (0.85) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1207
• Narrow-band filters smear signal onset despite resolving harmonics #qualifies (0.80) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 494
• Beats arise when two close frequencies combine in unresolved filters #exemplifies (0.80) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 895
• Only harmonics below the fifth to seventh are resolved individually by hearing #expands (0.75) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1496
• Timbre reduces to a weighted ratio of fundamental and resolved versus unresolved harmonics #expands (0.75) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1516
• Reversing the phase of a single harmonic can drastically change its perceived loudness #complicates (0.70) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1282