Pitch characteristics of short tones. II. Pitch as a function of tonal duration.

Abstract

The purpose of these expts. was to determine the direction and magnitude of pitch changes as a function of duration over a wide range of durations, frequencies, and intensities. Both a method of constants and a method of avg. error were used, and the major difference between the methods was in terms of the magnitude of the effect. This problem is discussed, and results obtained by the method of avg. error are accepted as being more valid. Further results and discussion indicate: 1) as the duration of tones is decreased, there is a tendency for all tones to lose pitch; 2) the amt. of pitch loss is related to intensity and frequency: a) pitch loss is greatest for high intensities, and is somewhat less for lower intensities; b) low frequencies show the greatest amt. of pitch loss; c) high frequencies at low intensities show actual pitch gain at short duration; 3) many of the relationships found can be explained in terms of the ear''s responding to the geometric mean of all the frequency components involved in a short tone.