Combination tones

By
Dr. Rizwin Khanam
Tezpur University
The phenomenon of pulsing loudness when two pure tones of
almost the same frequency are played together is called beats. The
effect is due simply to the Principle of Superposition.

The frequency of the beats is equal to the difference of frequencies of

the two tones, f = |f1 - f2| and the perceived tone is the average (f1 +
f2)/2.
So the combination of 250 Hz and 252 Hz tones pulses twice per
second and has a perceived pitch of 251 Hz. The presence of beats
allows you to detect frequency differences much smaller than what
you can detect when two tones are played consecutively.
This is a very useful technique for getting musical instruments in
tune with each other, but also means that the audience are more
sensitive to mis-tunings when two instruments play the same note
together.

When the beat frequency is faster than about 15 Hz, you can no
longer resolve individual beats but they are still there.
As the frequency difference increases above 15 Hz, the sound is
initially rough and you cannot resolve the individual frequencies.
Once the two frequencies are separated by about one critical band,
the sound becomes smooth and you can resolve the individual
frequencies.

When two pure tones generate vibrations in the same region of the
basilar membrane, a louder tone can mask/cover up a quieter tone.
When two pure tones are heard together, additional ‚combination‛
tones of different frequencies are sometimes also heard.
When two tones whose frequencies are close to each other are
presented simultaneously, sometimes a listener with an intact
auditory system hears a third tone that is not present. Even a fourth
tone may be heard.

In those cases, the presented tones are called ‘primary tones’ and the
third and fourth tones are called ‘combination tones.’
There are many possible combination tones, each of which follows a
straight line given by n1f1 + n2f2 where n1,n2 are integers. But only
three are usually heard, and only in a limited range of frequency
differences.
 1000 Hz 1500 Hz

Difference of the tone is 500 Hz

Primary tones : f1 and f2 (f1 < f2),

components at the frequencies 2f1-f2 and f2-f1 are usually
perceived.
More combination tones are heard for f2/ f1 < 1:5

Many possible combination tones

f2-f1
2f1-f2
3f1-2 f2………………….
These tones are due to the fact that the ear is not an ideal linear
system and has some small non-linearities in its response.
Perfect linear response: y12 = y1 + y2
Non-linear response: y12 = y1 + y2 + y1y2

When many pure tones are combined, there are essentially 3

different modes for hearing. These 3 modes can be represented as
the corners of a triangle: Pitch with timbre
Chord (many pitches)
Sound w/o pitch
Timbre
Timbre is the term used for the tone quality or ‚color‛ of a complex
sound.
A guitar and a saxophone can play the same note at same intensity. In
this case, they will have the same perceived pitch and loudness. But
they are still easy to distinguish: this is because their sounds have
different timbres. Timbre is fundamentally different from pitch and
loudness since its value can not be quantified on a single scale.

Some combinations of pure tones can be heard either as multiple

pitches (a chord) or else as a single pitch with timbre, depending on
the context and the cues available.
When a complex sound is heard synthetically, it may or may not
have a definite perceived pitch. The key for pitch perception of a
complex sound is that the pure tones contributing to the sound be
close enough to a harmonic series. Most musical instruments
satisfy this requirement and produce a combination of complex
tones (due to their many resonances) that gives an impression of
a single note being played with a complex timber. Percussion
instruments also have many resonances, but they are usually
inharmonic and do not combine to give a definite sense of pitch.
Thank you