Experiments with Clicks

Periodic waveforms must have sufficient duration (number of cycles) to contribute to the sensation of pitch.

A sinewave with only 4 cycles sounds like a click (no pitch), bright or dull depending on the frequency.

• try clicks.m: Ncycles = 4 and f0 = 110, 3520.
• short click, low frequency $\longrightarrow$ dull
• short click, high frequency $\longrightarrow$ bright

As the number of cycles is increased from 4, we begin to hear more of a pitch and less of a click:

• try clicks.m: f0 = 440, Ncycles = 4, 10, 25.

Number of cycles necessary to hear a pitch rather than a click

• increases somewhat with frequency but
• lies in the range of tens of cycles.