Hearing a mistuned harmonic in an otherwise periodic complex tone

Hartmann, William M.; McAdams, Stephen; Smith, Bennett K.

doi:10.1121/1.400246

Cited by 157 publications

(170 citation statements)

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“…A second approach, which has been used profitably in NH, is to require subjects to determine whether an isolated Bprobe^tone is also present as a component of a complex tone (e.g., Hartmann et al 1990). We adapted this approach by requiring CI listeners to compare stimulation on a single channel of their implant to that applied concurrently to four channels.…”

Section: Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

Concurrent Sound Segregation in Electric and Acoustic Hearing

Carlyon

Long

Deeks

et al. 2007

JARO

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We investigated potential cues to sound segregation by cochlear implant (CI) and normal-hearing (NH) listeners. In each presentation interval of experiment 1a, CI listeners heard a mixture of four pulse trains applied concurrently to separate electrodes, preceded by a Bprobe^applied to a single electrode. In one of these two intervals, which the subject had to identify, the probe electrode was the same as a Btarget^electrode in the mixture. The pulse train on the target electrode had a higher level than the others in the mixture. Additionally, it could be presented either with a 200-ms onset delay, at a lower rate, or with an asynchrony produced by delaying each pulse by about 5 ms re those on the nontarget electrodes. Neither the rate difference nor the asynchrony aided performance over and above the level difference alone, but the onset delay produced a modest improvement. Experiment 1b showed that two subjects could perform the task using the onset delay alone, with no level difference. Experiment 2 used a method similar to that of experiment 1, but investigated the onset cue using NH listeners. In one condition, the mixture consisted of harmonics 5 to 40 of a 100-Hz fundamental, with the onset of either harmonics 13 to 17 or 26 to 30 delayed re the rest. Performance was modest in this condition, but could be improved markedly by using stimuli containing a spectral gap between the target and nontarget harmonics. The results suggest that (a) CI users are unlikely to use temporal pitch differences between adjacent channels to separate concurrent sounds, and that (b) they can use onset differences between channels, but the usefulness of this cue will be compromised by the spread of excitation along the nerve-fiber array. This deleterious effect of spread-of-excitation can also impair the use of onset cues by NH listeners.

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Section: Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

Concurrent Sound Segregation in Electric and Acoustic Hearing

Carlyon

Long

Deeks

et al. 2007

JARO

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“…The ability to hear a mistuned harmonic as a separate tone in a complex sound depends on the ordinal number of the harmonic, the duration and degree of mistuning, and, to a lesser extent, the fundamental frequency (Hartmann, 1988;Hartmann, McAdams, & Smith, 1990;Moore et al, 1985Moore et al, , 1986. The likelihood of perceiving a harmonic as a separate distinct auditory object decreases with increasing harmonic ordinal number and increases with a greater degree of mistuning and longer stimulus duration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other words, a harmonic becomes more audible as a separate sound object as it contributes less to the overall complex sound with increasing mistuning. Moreover, the ability to identify a mistuned harmonic as a separate sound decreases with increasing harmonic ordinal number (e.g., Alain et al, 2001;Hartmann et al, 1990), falling below .5 probability above the sixth harmonic (Alain et al, 2001). The likelihood of reporting hearing two sounds instead of one during a mistuned interval was taken as evidence for the segregation of a complex sound into two separate concurrent auditory objects (Alain et al, 2001;Moore et al, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The degree of pitch alteration was manipulated as well as the ordinal number of the affected harmonic (e.g., Alain et al, 2001;Moore, Peters, & Glasberg, 1985;Moore et al, 1986). Participants were asked either to report which of two complex tones contained a mistuned harmonic, how many sounds were perceived (e.g., Alain et al, 2001;Moore et al, 1986), or to match the pitch of a mistuned harmonic with an adjustable tone (e.g., Hartmann & Doty, 1996;Hartmann, McAdams, & Smith, 1990;Roberts & Brunstrom, 1998Roberts & Holmes, 2006). The likelihood of reporting hearing two distinct sounds instead of one during a mistuned interval was taken as evidence for the segregation of a complex sound into two separate concurrent auditory objects (e.g., Alain et al, 2001;Moore et al, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The perception of concurrent sound objects through the use of harmonic enhancement: a study of auditory attention

Koulaguina

Drisdelle

Alain

et al. 2015

Atten Percept Psychophys

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When the frequency of one harmonic, in a sound composed of many harmonics, is briefly mistuned and then returned to the 'in-tune' frequency and phase, observers report hearing this harmonic as a separate tone long after the brief period of mistuning -a phenomenon called harmonic enhancement. Here, we examined the consequence of harmonic enhancement on listeners' ability to detect a brief amplitude notch embedded in one of the harmonics after the period of mistuning. When present, the notch was either on the enhanced harmonic or on a different harmonic. Detection was better on the enhanced harmonic than on a non-enhanced harmonic. This finding suggests that attention was drawn to the enhanced harmonic (which constituted a new sound object) thereby easing the processing of sound features (i.e., a notch) within that object. This is the first evidence of a functional consequence of the after-effect of transient mistuning on auditory perception. Moreover, the findings provide support for an attention-based explanation of the enhancement phenomenon.

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“…Harmonic segregation has been studied extensively using a mistuning-perception paradigm wherein the listener is required to detect the mistuning of one component of a simultaneously-presented harmonic complex [2,6,7]. Two explanations of the harmonic segregation are given in these studies depending on whether the mistuned component is perceptually resolved (fall within a single processing bandwidth) or unresolved (harmonics falling in separate filters).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Possible role of cochlear nonlinearity in the detection of mistuning of a harmonic component in a harmonic complex

Stoelinga

Heo

Lee

et al. 2015

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Abstract. The human auditory system has a remarkable ability to "hear out" a wanted sound (target) in the background of unwanted sounds. One important property of sound which helps us hear-out the target is inharmonicity. When a single harmonic component of a harmonic complex is slightly mistuned, that component is heard to separate from the rest. At high harmonic numbers, where components are unresolved, the harmonic segregation effect is thought to result from detection of modulation of the time envelope (roughness cue) resulting from the mistuning. Neurophysiological research provides evidence that such envelope modulations are represented early in the auditory system, at the level of the auditory nerve. When the mistuned harmonic is a low harmonic, where components are resolved, the harmonic segregation is attributed to more centrally-located auditory processes, leading harmonic components to form a perceptual group heard separately from the mistuned component. Here we consider an alternative explanation that attributes the harmonic segregation to detection of modulation when both high and low harmonic numbers are mistuned. Specifically, we evaluate the possibility that distortion products in the cochlea generated by the mistuned component introduce detectable beating patterns for both high and low harmonic numbers. Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) were measured using 3, 7, or 12-tone harmonic complexes with a fundamental frequency (F0) of 200 or 400 Hz. One of two harmonic components was mistuned at each F0: one when harmonics are expected to be resulted and the other from unresolved harmonics. Many non-harmonic DPOAEs are present whenever a harmonic component is mistuned. These non-harmonic DPOAEs are often separated by the amount of the mistuning (ΔF). This small frequency difference will generate a slow beating pattern at ΔF, because this beating is only present when a harmonic component is mistuned, it could provide a cue for behavioral detection of harmonic complex mistuning and may also be associated with the modulation of auditory nerve responses.

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Hearing a mistuned harmonic in an otherwise periodic complex tone

Cited by 157 publications

References 11 publications

Concurrent Sound Segregation in Electric and Acoustic Hearing

Concurrent Sound Segregation in Electric and Acoustic Hearing

The perception of concurrent sound objects through the use of harmonic enhancement: a study of auditory attention

Possible role of cochlear nonlinearity in the detection of mistuning of a harmonic component in a harmonic complex

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