PDF(Pubmed)
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.
摘要：
谐波复杂音调比非谐波复杂音调更容易在噪声中检测到，在复杂的听觉环境中提供潜在的感知优势。这里,我们探讨了谐波优势是否扩展到对导航嘈杂的听觉环境很重要的其他听觉任务，如振幅和频率调制检测。60名听力正常的年轻听众接受了测试，分为两组，有和没有音乐训练。与早期的研究一致，谐波音调比非谐波音调更容易在噪声中检测到，信噪比(SNR)优势约为2.5dB，和声音调的音调辨别比非和声音调更准确，即使在考虑了可听性差异之后。相比之下,一旦考虑了可听度的差异，调幅和调频检测都不优于谐波音调。音乐训练仅在音高辨别和调频检测任务中与更好的表现相关。结果证实了谐波音调的检测和音高感知优势，但表明谐波的好处不会扩展到不依赖于提取基频的超阈值任务。提出了一种通用理论，该理论可以解释噪声和记忆对谐波和非谐波音调之间的音调区分差异的影响。
