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Our ability to perceive sound depends on the vibrations occurring around us (through air, water, or even solids) transmitted to our ears. Sounds that we hear create sound waves, that is, pressure changes in a medium. Most sounds we hear are pressure changes in the air. The trait of sound known as pitch is related to an aspect of sound waves.
(Physical characteristics of sound, including frequency and amplitude result in different perceptual dimensions. Several examples of perceptual experiences are loudness, timbre, localization, and pitch. See a glossary of auditory terms for more information.)
Pitch refers to a high or low tone. Pitch, in other words, is a perception of a sound's frequency.
How is pitch measured?
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Pitch is measured in a psychological unit referred to as the mel. For example, the pitch of a 1000 hz tone is 1000 mels.
What are the components of pitch?
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Pitch is characterized by two components, tone height and tone chroma. Tone height corresponds to an increase in frequency. Tone chroma ("color") refers to the perceived similarity of tones with different frequencies. Tone chroma is described through the musical scale: high C has a greater tone height than middle C, but the same tone chroma.
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Musical tones actually contain multiple frequencies, known as harmonics. The lowest frequency is called the fundamental frequency and determines the tone's pitch. Even without the fundamental frequency, however, the pitch of a given sound will remain the same, an effect of perception known as periodicity pitch.
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Perfect pitch, also known as absolute pitch, is the ability to identify a tone on the musical scale without any other tone for comparison or reference. In other words, it is the ability to perceive frequency with certain accuracy.
Links
- Pitch Perception
- Frequency Response
- Demonstrations in Auditory Perception
- The Human Auditory Physiology Laboratory, University of British Columbia
- Research Laboratory of Electronics - Auditory Physiology Group, MIT
- The Society for Psychophysiological Research
- The Perfect Pitch Museum
- Perfect Pitch on the Internet