Pitch Perception

Physics: Missing fundamental effect: harmonics at 2f, 3f, 4f, 5f → perceived pitch at f even without f₁ present. Discovered by Seebeck (1841). Residue pitch (Schouten 1940) = pattern recognition in auditory cortex, not cochlea. Autocorrelation model: brain detects periodicity T in neural firing patterns. Mel scale: perceptually equal pitch intervals, non-linear above 1 kHz (1000 mel = 1000 Hz). Pitch discrimination threshold: ~3 Hz at 1 kHz. Absolute pitch (perfect pitch): ~1 in 10,000 people. Harmonics above fundamental are suppressed in telephone bandwidth (300-3400 Hz) yet voice pitch is perceived.