Pitch Salience of Various Complex Sounds

Abstract

Pitch salience of a variety of different complex sounds was measured through open-set melodic dictation tests using five musically experienced observers. The experimental task on each trial was to play back all notes of a four-note melody, randomly selected from an eight-note diatonic major scale, on an eight-note keyboard. Data were reduced to a correlation measure which addresses mostly the degree to which ordinal or contour information is preserved in the sequence of sensations, and also to a percent correct identification measure which tests preservation of ratio information. The two measures are in some cases very different, and it is proposed that those sounds that seem to convey mostly ordinal and little ratio information should not qualify as sounds that evoke true pitch sensations.