Played-again SAM: Further observations on the pitch of amplitude-modulated noise

Abstract

The pitchlike sensation elicited by sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) noise remains a controversial phenomenon. The controversy centers on two major points: (1) whether this sensation is ’’really’’ pitch rather than, e.g., roughness or intermittency, and (2) the possibility that any pitch sensation is mediated by short-term spectral information rather than temporal information—thus nullifying an interesting aspect of the phenomenon. Three experiments employing SAM wideband noise, SAM wideband noise bandpass-filtered after modulation, and a SAM 10 kHz pure tone were performed: (1) open-set melody identification, (2) melodic dictation, and (3) musical-interval adjustment. These experiments extend our earlier study [Burns and Viemeister, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 60, 863 (1976)]. The results provide further evidence that SAM noise can, at suitable modulation frequencies, elicit a sensation of pitch (as defined by the ability to carry melodic information), and that this pitch represents a purely temporal phenomenon.