Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2011 Sep;130(3):1488-502. doi: 10.1121/1.3605559.
Human listeners prefer consonant over dissonant musical intervals and the perceived contrast between these classes is reduced with cochlear hearing loss. Population-level activity of normal and impaired model auditory-nerve (AN) fibers was examined to determine (1) if peripheral auditory neurons exhibit correlates of consonance and dissonance and (2) if the reduced perceptual difference between these qualities observed for hearing-impaired listeners can be explained by impaired AN responses. In addition, acoustical correlates of consonance-dissonance were also explored including periodicity and roughness. Among the chromatic pitch combinations of music, consonant intervals/chords yielded more robust neural pitch-salience magnitudes (determined by harmonicity/periodicity) than dissonant intervals/chords. In addition, AN pitch-salience magnitudes correctly predicted the ordering of hierarchical pitch and chordal sonorities described by Western music theory. Cochlear hearing impairment compressed pitch salience estimates between consonant and dissonant pitch relationships. The reduction in contrast of neural responses following cochlear hearing loss may explain the inability of hearing-impaired listeners to distinguish musical qualia as clearly as normal-hearing individuals. Of the neural and acoustic correlates explored, AN pitch salience was the best predictor of behavioral data. Results ultimately show that basic pitch relationships governing music are already present in initial stages of neural processing at the AN level.
人类听众更喜欢和谐的音乐音程，而不喜欢不和谐的音乐音程，并且随着耳蜗听力损失，这些类别之间的感知差异会降低。研究了正常和受损模型听觉神经 (AN) 纤维的群体水平活动，以确定 (1) 外围听觉神经元是否表现出和谐与不和谐的相关性，以及 (2) 对于听力受损的听众来说，这些品质之间感知差异减小是否可以通过受损的 AN 反应来解释。此外，还探索了和谐-不和谐的音响学相关性，包括周期性和粗糙度。在音乐的半音阶音高组合中，和谐的音程/和弦产生的神经音高显著性（由谐和性/周期性决定）比不和谐的音程/和弦更大。此外，AN 的音高显著性大小正确预测了西方音乐理论描述的层次音高和和弦音响的顺序。耳蜗听力损伤压缩了和谐与不和谐音高关系之间的音高显著性估计值。耳蜗听力损失后神经反应对比度的降低可能解释了听力受损的听众无法像正常听力个体那样清晰地区分音乐特质的原因。在所探索的神经和声学相关性中，AN 音高显著性是行为数据的最佳预测指标。结果最终表明，控制音乐的基本音高关系已经存在于 AN 水平的神经处理的初始阶段。
