Subharmonic pitch extraction or pitch memory?

Abstract

Hourcast [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 60, 405 (1976)] reported that a pure tone may elicit the perception of a subharmonic pitch when presented at a low S/N ratio, but not when presented at a high S/N ratio. Our replication of Houtgast's experiment suggests an alternative interpretation of the results, that the phenomenon may not be due to subharmonic extraction, but rather to the listener's memory of the components of the comparison tones. Following Houtgast's procedure, one or more of the components of a three‐component harmonic complex was presented on each trial, but without the six‐component comparison tone. On any trial the components were harmonics of one of two possible fundamentals, 6% different in frequency. They were presented both with and without a noise background, at four mean harmonic numbers. The listeners' task was to indicate whether the components belonged to the higher or lower fundamental. Results from highly trained musicians and from naive listeners were essentially identical to Houtgast's results, and suggest that judgements are made according to between‐trial comparisons, rather than in reference to a pitch context formed by the comparison tone. The noise background had no effect. [Work supported by NIH NS12045.]