Neha Rajappa

Prior work established that harmonic sounds are easier to detect in noise and that F0 discrimination in noise is more accurate for harmonic complex tones than inharmonic complex tones. Musicians have been found to have better F0 discrimination than non-musicians but no benefit for detection of harmonic vs. inharmonic tones in noise. The present study aimed to replicate these findings and extend them to other psychophysical tasks for which the effects of harmonicity and musicianship are less understood. Young normal-hearing musicians and non-musicians were compared in four psychophysical tasks: detection, F0 discrimination, FM detection, and AM detection. The stimuli were either harmonic or inharmonic complex tones with an F0 of around 250 Hz. The tones were presented in threshold-equalizing noise at signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) per harmonic component of -2.5, 0, or 2.5 dB or in silence. Inharmonic complex tones were more difficult to detect in noise. F0 discrimination was worse for inharmonic complex tones than harmonic complex tones in noise (but not in quiet). Different patterns of results were observed for FM and AM detection. For FM detection, thresholds were comparable for harmonic and inharmonic complex tones at all tested SNRs and in quiet. For AM detection, thresholds were consistently worse for inharmonic complex tones at all tested SNRs and in quiet. Preliminary results suggest that musicians have better overall performance in the psychophysical tasks but have no additional “harmonic benefit” over non-musicians, and no selective benefit for the pitch-related tasks of F0 discrimination and FM detection.