Neural Volleys and the Similarity between Some Sensations Produced by Tones and by Skin Vibrations

Abstract

Some similarities and differences between skin sensations and hearing have been investigated. The sensation of pitch on the skin has little similarity to the pitch sensation in hearing. The pitch sensation on the skin changes very much with changes in loudness, and there is a strong diplacusis between different parts of the skin. But the rotating skin sensations and rotating tones (Drehton) have many aspects in common. It was further found that the apparent size of the sensation on the skin and in the ear vary similarly as the stimulus changes. From a neurophysiological point of view, it seems to be important that it is possible to find a situation on the skin where two stimuli of different frequencies cancel each other completely. In this case, one sensation is inhibited by another, but the inhibiting sensation is felt no more. In order to be able to extrapolate from the skin to the cochlea, for several phenomena on the skin, the changes are plotted which occur when the vibrator is moved from an insensitive spot on the skin to a more sensitive one.