Re: correction to post

[Martin Braun <nombraun@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear John and list,

"there is no mathematical(ly) periodicity at the fundamental"

This is not correct. The "mathematical(ly) periodicity at the fundamental" 
occurs in the auditory midbrain (the central nucleus of the inferior 
colliculus). This is also the place where the physiology of pitch production 
takes place.

By the way, the "central processor" theory (by Goldstein, and later by 
others) is a central auditory place pitch theory. Please remember that for a 
theory of this type anatomical or physiological evidence has never been 
found.

Further, the anatomical and physiological evidence for a central auditory 
basis of pitch production by periodicity analysis in the central nucleus of 
the inferior colliculus is overwhelming.

The term "missing fundamental" is a misleading one and should long have been 
abandoned. The hearing organ we have evolved for the synthesis of a unitary 
percept called pitch, which is based on (A) frequency analysis and (B) 
periodicity analysis of the results of (A). It did not evolve to detect 
anything that is missing anywhere.

Pitch has nothing to do with an illusion. It would perhaps be justified to 
call the pitch perception caused by sine tones an illusion. These tones do 
not occur in nature, except in rare cases of tinnitus. The pitch of a sine 
tone is just the result of artificial laboratory food for the auditory 
midbrain.

Martin

Martin Braun
Neuroscience of Music
Gansbyn 14
S-671 95 Klässbol
Sweden
nombraun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Beerends, J.G. (John)" <john.beerends@xxxxxx>
To: <AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 5:49 PM
Subject: Re: correction to post


Dear list,

Periodicity plays a role in pitch perception but is not the whole story.
In an experiment performed by Houtsma, many years ago, one sine goes to one 
ear and another, harmonically related sine, to the other, there is no 
mathematically periodicity at the fundamental, but melodies can be played 
using this missing fundamental showing that a central processor finds the 
missing fundamental.

John Beerends
TNO