An investigation on similarities between pitch perception and localization of harmonic complex tones

This paper investigates two types of human auditory perceptions, localization and pitch perception, to see if there could be any common mechanism underlying both abilities. A brief description of the theories will be listed. From those theories it will be shown that, for lower frequencies, both perceptions seem to be based on timing information from the hair cells in the cochlea. One experiment will also be outlined and performed to investigate our ability to localize harmonic complex tones, depending on how many partials the tones are built of. The results from the experiment are compared with earlier reported experiments on pitch perception and some interesting similarities are enlightened that implies there could be a common mechanism underlying both perceptions. However, more subjects are needed to be able to draw reliable conclusions.Validerat; 20101217 (root