Effects of signal envelope on the pitch of short complex tones.

Abstract

Envelope-induced pitch shifts were measured for exponentially decaying complex tones consisting of two sinusoidal components with frequencies f1 = nf0 + 50 Hz and f2 = (n + 1) f0 + 50 Hz, where n equals 3, 4, or 5 and exponential decay rates were 0, 0.5, 1, and 2 dB/ms. Four subjects adjusted a sinusoidal comparison tone to match the virtual pitch of the (missing) fundamental and the pitches of the lower and upper partials f1 and f2. Pitch shifts for f1 are generally less, and pitch shifts for f2 always greater, than envelope-induced shifts observed in isolated sinusoidal tones of comparable frequency and envelope decay rate. Pitch-shift functions for virtual pitch are similar in magnitude and shape to average pitch-shift functions of the partials, which supports the idea that virtual pitch depends on spectral pitch.