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Kuo CY, Liu JW, Wang CH, Juan CH, Hsieh IH. The role of carrier spectral composition in the perception of musical pitch. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:2083-2099. [PMID: 37479873 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02761-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/23/2023]
Abstract
Temporal envelope fluctuations of natural sounds convey critical information to speech and music processing. In particular, musical pitch perception is assumed to be primarily underlined by temporal envelope encoding. While increasing evidence demonstrates the importance of carrier fine structure to complex pitch perception, how carrier spectral information affects musical pitch perception is less clear. Here, transposed tones designed to convey identical envelope information across different carriers were used to assess the effects of carrier spectral composition to pitch discrimination and musical-interval and melody identifications. Results showed that pitch discrimination thresholds became lower (better) with increasing carrier frequencies from 1k to 10k Hz, with performance comparable to that of pure sinusoids. Musical interval and melody defined by the periodicity of sine- or harmonic complex envelopes across carriers were identified with greater than 85% accuracy even on a 10k-Hz carrier. Moreover, enhanced interval and melody identification performance was observed with increasing carrier frequency up to 6k Hz. Findings suggest a perceptual enhancement of temporal envelope information with increasing carrier spectral region in musical pitch processing, at least for frequencies up to 6k Hz. For carriers in the extended high-frequency region (8-20k Hz), the use of temporal envelope information to music pitch processing may vary depending on task requirement. Collectively, these results implicate the fidelity of temporal envelope information to musical pitch perception is more pronounced than previously considered, with ecological implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao-Yin Kuo
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, 320317, Taiwan
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Jia-Wei Liu
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, 320317, Taiwan
| | - Chih-Hung Wang
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Chi-Hung Juan
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, 320317, Taiwan
- Cognitive Intelligence and Precision Healthcare Center, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, 320317, Taiwan
| | - I-Hui Hsieh
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, 320317, Taiwan.
- Cognitive Intelligence and Precision Healthcare Center, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, 320317, Taiwan.
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Demany L, Monteiro G, Semal C, Shamma S, Carlyon RP. The perception of octave pitch affinity and harmonic fusion have a common origin. Hear Res 2021; 404:108213. [PMID: 33662686 PMCID: PMC7614450 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2021.108213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2020] [Revised: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Musicians say that the pitches of tones with a frequency ratio of 2:1 (one octave) have a distinctive affinity, even if the tones do not have common spectral components. It has been suggested, however, that this affinity judgment has no biological basis and originates instead from an acculturation process ‒ the learning of musical rules unrelated to auditory physiology. We measured, in young amateur musicians, the perceptual detectability of octave mistunings for tones presented alternately (melodic condition) or simultaneously (harmonic condition). In the melodic condition, mistuning was detectable only by means of explicit pitch comparisons. In the harmonic condition, listeners could use a different and more efficient perceptual cue: in the absence of mistuning, the tones fused into a single sound percept; mistunings decreased fusion. Performance was globally better in the harmonic condition, in line with the hypothesis that listeners used a fusion cue in this condition; this hypothesis was also supported by results showing that an illusory simultaneity of the tones was much less advantageous than a real simultaneity. In the two conditions, mistuning detection was generally better for octave compressions than for octave stretchings. This asymmetry varied across listeners, but crucially the listener-specific asymmetries observed in the two conditions were highly correlated. Thus, the perception of the melodic octave appeared to be closely linked to the phenomenon of harmonic fusion. As harmonic fusion is thought to be determined by biological factors rather than factors related to musical culture or training, we argue that octave pitch affinity also has, at least in part, a biological basis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurent Demany
- Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine, CNRS, EPHE, and Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
| | - Guilherme Monteiro
- Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine, CNRS, EPHE, and Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Catherine Semal
- Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine, CNRS, EPHE, and Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France; Bordeaux INP, Bordeaux, France.
| | - Shihab Shamma
- Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States; Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France.
| | - Robert P Carlyon
- Cambridge Hearing Group, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
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