Demonstration 22. Masking Spectral and Virtual Pitch (1:28)

You will hear the familiar Westminster chimes melody played with pairs of tones. The first tone of each pair is a sinusoid, the second a complex tone of the same pitch.

Masking Virtual Pitch 1

Now the puretone notes are masked with lowpassed noise. You will still hear the pitches of the complex tone

Masking Virtual Pitch 2

Now the complex tone is masked by highpassed noise. The puretone melody is still heard

Masking Virtual Pitch 3

This demonstration uses masking noise of high and low frequency to mask out, alternately, a melody carried by single pure tones of low frequency and the same mlodye resulting from virtual pitch from groups of three tones of high frequency (4th, 5tt 6th harmonics). The inability of the low-frequency noise to mask the virtual pitch in the same range points out the inadequacy of the place theory of pitch.