Dominance region for pitch at low fundamental frequencies: Implications for pitch theories

Abstract

The dominant region for pitch was measured for complex tones with low fundamental frequency (F0=35 and 50 Hz). The tones contained 59 harmonics, added in cosine or random phase. The harmonics were split into two groups; group A containing harmonics 1-K and group B containing harmonics (K+1)-N. On each trial, two successive complex tones were presented. In one, the harmonics in group A were shifted down by deltaF0 and the harmonics in group B were shifted up by deltaF0. In the other tone, the shifts were in the opposite direction. The tones were presented in random order and the subject had to indicate which had the higher pitch. The pitch judgements followed the components in group B for small K and the components in group A for large K. The frequency corresponding to the middle of the transition region was taken as the center of the dominant region, fdom. The value of fdom varied markedly across subjects but typically corresponded to harmonic numbers above the 6th, for both phase conditions. Thus, the dominant harmonics were unresolved. These results indicate that resolution of individual harmonics is not the key factor determining the location of the dominant region. [Work supported by the MRC.]