Klarinet Archive - Posting 000069.txt from 2003/09

From: ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: [kl] Harmonics + noise (was: Hybrid CD)
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 13:17:56 -0400

A paper, whose the link was posted here a few days ago, claims that our
perception of pitch can be better explained by assuming
internally-generated "noise" that helps us perceive the fundamental
pitch via harmonics, even when the fundamental pitch itself is missing.
Certainly the idea that "noise" helps us hear is anti-intuitive.

I wonder how (if at all) this relates to Ben Maas's explanation that
harmonics above the 'normal' range of human hearing have sufficient
effect on our perceptions --- such that manufacturers invent new CD
formats in order to capture them? Does our hearing system generate
some kind of "noise" that (somehow?) causes these "unhearabale"
harmonics to become "hearable"?

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