The Ear as a Frequency Analyzer. II

Previous experiments on the limit of the ear's frequency-analyzing power, carried out with only two subjects, were repeated for four other subjects. The limit was investigated by measuring the number of harmonics of a complex tone that can be heard separately. It was found that, even under the most favorable conditions, not more than the first five to seven harmonics can be distinguished. This limit agrees with the critical-band concept, that is to say, a partial of a multitone stimulus can be heard only when the adjacent tones are separated by more than the critical bandwidth.