Journal article
Benefits of Harmonicity for Hearing in Noise Are Limited to Detection and Pitch-Related Discrimination Tasks
Biology (Basel, Switzerland), Vol.12(12), p.1522
12/13/2023
DOI: 10.3390/biology12121522
PMID: 38132348
Abstract
Simple Summary Harmonic tones are known to be more detectable in noise than inharmonic tones, providing an ecological advantage to periodic sounds, such as voiced speech and many animal vocalizations, over aperiodic sounds. Little is known about the extent to which this harmonic advantage extends to other auditory tasks beyond simple detection. Here, we tested young adults with and without musical training on the detection of harmonic and inharmonic tones in noise, as well as on other tasks that are important for auditory perception, including pitch discrimination, frequency-modulation detection, and amplitude-modulation detection. Consistent with earlier results, detection in noise was superior for harmonic over inharmonic tones, and an additional benefit beyond detection was found for pitch discrimination. However, neither amplitude- nor frequency-modulation detection was improved in harmonic conditions, beyond the predicted effects of audibility. Listeners with musical training performed better in pitch-related tasks (pitch discrimination and frequency-modulation detection), but evidence for a musician benefit of harmonicity was weak. The results show that harmonicity aids tone detection and pitch perception in noise, but that the harmonicity advantage does not extend to other important auditory domains, such as modulation detection, beyond the improvements accounted for by greater audibility in noise.Abstract Harmonic complex tones are easier to detect in noise than inharmonic complex tones, providing a potential perceptual advantage in complex auditory environments. Here, we explored whether the harmonic advantage extends to other auditory tasks that are important for navigating a noisy auditory environment, such as amplitude- and frequency-modulation detection. Sixty young normal-hearing listeners were tested, divided into two equal groups with and without musical training. Consistent with earlier studies, harmonic tones were easier to detect in noise than inharmonic tones, with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) advantage of about 2.5 dB, and the pitch discrimination of the harmonic tones was more accurate than that of inharmonic tones, even after differences in audibility were accounted for. In contrast, neither amplitude- nor frequency-modulation detection was superior with harmonic tones once differences in audibility were accounted for. Musical training was associated with better performance only in pitch-discrimination and frequency-modulation-detection tasks. The results confirm a detection and pitch-perception advantage for harmonic tones but reveal that the harmonic benefits do not extend to suprathreshold tasks that do not rely on extracting the fundamental frequency. A general theory is proposed that may account for the effects of both noise and memory on pitch-discrimination differences between harmonic and inharmonic tones.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Benefits of Harmonicity for Hearing in Noise Are Limited to Detection and Pitch-Related Discrimination Tasks
- Creators
- Neha Rajappa - University of MinnesotaDaniel R. Guest - University of RochesterAndrew J. Oxenham - University of Minnesota
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Biology (Basel, Switzerland), Vol.12(12), p.1522
- DOI
- 10.3390/biology12121522
- PMID
- 38132348
- ISSN
- 2079-7737
- eISSN
- 2079-7737
- Publisher
- Mdpi
- Number of pages
- 13
- Grant note
- R01DC005216; F31DC019247 / National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute on Deafness & Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) UMN College of Liberal Arts Graduate Fellowship
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/13/2023
- Academic Unit
- Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Record Identifier
- 9985217030102771
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