Pitch discrimination of harmonic complex signals: residue pitch or multiple component discriminations?

Two models for pitch discrimination of harmonic complex sounds are discussed, a multiple-band probability summation model using comparisons among component frequencies, and a model in which residue pitches are compared. The second model is based on Goldstein's optimum-processor pitch theory [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 54, 1496-1516 (1973)], and is distinguished from the multiple-band model by an internal noise process. Pitch difference limens from 2I2AFC tasks show that when the test signals comprise corresponding harmonics, relative pitch difference limens are less than the smaller relative difference limens for the component frequencies, which is consistent with the multiple-band model. The absence of corresponding harmonics significantly reduces relative pitch discriminability; this effect supports the model on Goldstein's theory. It appears that residue pitch comparisons are not used for pitch discrimination between sounds with corresponding components; rather, comparisons based on residue pitch are only employed where there are no common resolved components in the signals to be discriminated.