Use of noise bands to establish noise pitch.

Abstract

In the work reported, the pitch of a band of noise, called a reference band, is determined by varying the frequency position of the center of a 12-oct band of noise, the comparison band, systematically but randomly over the full width of the reference band. The pitch of the reference band is designated as the frequency position of a 12-oct comparison band that is judged “lower” than the reference band on 50% of the trials. The method of constant stimuli was employed throughout. The reference bands, whose pitch was to be defined, included bands of various widths from 12–3 oct, and they were placed at widely varying positions over the audio-frequency range, with lower limits as low as 150 Hz and upper limits as high as 9600 Hz. The psychophysical functions indicating the changing proportion of “lower” judgments as the position of the comparison band varies from the lower edge to the upper edge of the reference band are essentially monotonic, yielding little evidence of multiple pitches, even for the wide reference bands.