A Duplex Theory of Pitch Perception

Abstract

In the theories of pitch perception now widely supported, pitch is regarded as a unitary attribute of auditory experience. There is good evidence, however, that there are actually two pitch-like attributes, and it is reasonable to suppose that the duplexity of pitch is a reflection of duplexity in the auditory process. The first step in the process is analysis in frequency, performed by the cochlea, which distributes stimulus components of various frequencies to spatially separated channels. The second step, according to the scheme postulated here, is autocorrelational analysis, performed by the neural part of the auditory system, of the signal in each frequency channel. The basic operations of autocorrelational analysis are delay, multiplication, and integration. The nervous system is nicely set up to perform these operations. A chain of neurons makes an excellent delay line. The spatial aspect of synaptic summation provides something very close to multiplication. And the temporal aspect of synaptic summation is essentially running integration. The duplex theory suggests, therefore, that neural circuits following the autocorrelation model supplement the cochlear frequency analysis. The postulated neural autocorrelator of course does not compute autocorrelation functions of the acoustic stimulus: it operates upon afferent neural signals. Because the markedly non-linear process of neural excitation intervenes between the stimulus and the autocorrelation, the latter gives rise in certain instances to pitches that are not readily explained if the relatively linear cochlear analysis is considered to be the only one. “The case of the missing fundamental” and Schouten's residue effect, for example, are readily accounted for by the duplex theory. In addition, the theory provides a rational basis for the octave relation and for the consonance of other simple harmonic relations.

Stochastic Resonance Controlled Upregulation of Internal Noise after Hearing Loss as a Putative Cause of Tinnitus-Related Neuronal Hyperactivity

“…As has been pointed out in the Introduction section already, the evaluation of autocorrelation functions may easily be implemented within neuronal networks using delay-lines and coincidence detectors (Licklider, 1951). A neuronal architecture resembling such delay-lines has been described in the DCN (Osen, 1988; Hackney et al, 1990; Baizer et al, 2012).…”

“…Hence both, mutual information and autocorrelation, exhibit their maximum at the same level of noise and consequently, maximizing the output autocorrelation leads to similar or even identical estimates of optimal noise intensities for SR as the mutual information, yet with the decisive advantage that no knowledge of the input signal is required (Krauss et al, 2015). In contrast to the mutual information, the evaluation of autocorrelation functions may easily be implemented within neuronal networks using delay-lines and coincidence detectors (Licklider, 1951). …”

Inhibition in the auditory brainstem enhances signal representation and regulates gain in complex acoustic environments

“…Hence, our results show that acoustically evoked inhibition plays a major role in shaping the SBC response. Most models of pitch perception are based on or related to an autocorrelation of neuronal activity and rely on temporal precision and reproducibility (Licklider, 1951; Meddis and Hewitt, 1991; Cariani and Delgutte, 1996; Yost, 1996; de Cheveigné, 1998; Denham, 2005; Joris, 2016). The improvement of both characteristics at the ANF-SBC synapse might support the neuronal processing of pitch, but experimental evidence is lacking.…”

Concurrent-vowel and tone recognition by Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant users

“…However, contemporary CI devices do not convey pitch information very well, and CI users have difficulty in pitch-related listening tasks such as music perception (see McDermott, 2004 for a review), competing speech (e.g., Stickney et al, 2004), and tonal language recognition (e.g., Fu et al, 2004; Wei et al, 2004). Normal hearing (NH) listeners extract pitch information from the place of excitation along the basilar membrane (“place cues”) and the temporal pattern of auditory nerve responses (“rate cues”; Licklider, 1951). Electric stimulation in CIs is limited to a fixed number of electrode locations, which is insufficient to resolve fundamental frequency (F0) and its harmonics.…”