Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29302401›Full record

ArticlePeerJ2017

The 1.06 frequency ratio in the cochlea: evidence and outlook for a natural musical semitone.

Andrew Bell, W Wiktor Jedrzejczak

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PeerJ, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Andrew BellJohn Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
W Wiktor JedrzejczakInstitute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw, Poland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A frequency ratio of about 1.06 often appears in cochlear mechanics, and the question naturally arises, why? The ratio is close to that of the semitone (1.059) in music, giving reason to think that this aspect of musical perception might have a cochlear basis. Here, data on synchronised spontaneous otoacoustic emissions is presented, and a clustering of ratios between 1.05 and 1.07 is found with a peak at 1.063 ± 0.005. These findings reinforce what has been found from previous sources, which are reviewed and placed alongside the present work. The review establishes that a peak in the vicinity of 1.06 has often been found in human cochlear data. Several possible cochlear models for explaining the findings are described. Irrespective of which model is selected, the fact remains that the cochlea itself appears to be the origin of a ratio remarkably close to an equal-tempered musical semitone, and this close coincidence leads to the suggestion that the inner ear may play a role in constructing a natural theory of music. The outlook for such an enterprise is surveyed.

Indexed as

Human cochleaMusicMusical perceptionSemitoneSpontaneous otoacoustic emission

Identifiers

PMID29302401
PMCPMC5745955

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.