The effects of off‐frequency listening on the pitch of narrowband complexes.

Abstract

A pitch‐matching paradigm was used to investigate the filtering properties of the auditory system. Listeners adjusted the frequency of a pure tone to match the pitch of a five‐tone complex. Each complex had five equal amplitude sinusoidal components with equal frequency spacing (20 Hz). Five of six total conditions constituted a signal added in phase to any one of the five components, while the sixth condition added no signal. Two different signal levels were tested. Pitch matches were best described by the envelope weighted average of the instantaneous frequency, but only if the stimulus was first passed through the skirt of an auditory filter [V. Eckstein and B. G. Berg, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 120, 3126 (2006)]. The results appear to be more consistent than those previously obtained with three‐tone complexes. By using additional components and adding a signal at the edges of the signal complex, this study depicts a more complete inspection of the auditory filter shape, reduces pitch ambiguity, and eliminates nonlinearities. [Work supported by NSF.]