Abstract
The second pitch shift effect describes a drop in the
perceived pitch of a complex stimulus when the frequency spacing among its
components is increased. Based on
existing experimental data describing the first pitch shift effect, the present
paper demonstrates that the mathematical model introduced by de Boer [Doctoral
dissertation, University of Amsterdam, (1956)] and modified later by Smoorenburg [JASA, 48(4/2): 1055-1060, (1970)], predicts without any
further modification the second pitch shift effect as well. The Smoorenburg model also predicts that the
perceived pitch of complex stimuli will not always drop when increasing the
frequency spacing among components, but may rise depending on the structure of
the stimuli. A perceptual experiment was
conducted using nine complex stimuli. For eight of the stimuli the model predicted a rise in pitch with
increasing frequency spacing while for the ninth stimulus the opposite was
predicted. The results of the experiment
support the conclusion that the relationship between the direction of pitch
motion (rise/drop) and the direction of changes in frequency spacing among
components of complex stimuli (increasing/decreasing) can be predicted by the
same model that explains the first pitch shift effect, making the second pitch
shift effect an unnecessary concept.
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