Simulating pitch perception and sensitivity to phase using a peripheral auditory model

Abstract

The ability of neurophysiological studies to give an adequate account of human pitch perception was studied using a peripheral auditory model comprising (a) outer‐ear, low‐frequency attenuation, (b) a set of 60 digital filters to simulate basilar membrane frequency selectivity, (c) an array of inner hair cell simulators, and (d) a system based on Licklider's [Experientia 7, 128–133 (1951)] theory of pitch perception that generates running histograms of the time intervals among all spikes in fibers originating from adjacent sites on the membrane. The most frequently occurring time intervals were taken to represent the period of the perceived pitch, while the overall pattern of time intervals represented the perceived timbre. The model was tested, giving satisfactory results, using a wide range of harmonic, inharmonic, and noise stimuli known to give rise to pitch perceptions as well as stimuli, where the relative phase of the harmonic components affects stimulus timbre. [Work supported by SERC.]