Periodicity Theory

One difficulty, in particular, is in explaining why we hear complex tones as one entity with a single pitch.

According to Periodicity Theory, the ear performs a time analysis of the sound wave:

• time distribution of elecrical impulses in the auditory nerve holds information about the time distribution of the sound wave;
• yet nerve pulses aren't fast enough to encode exact waveforms.

Place theory is necessary to account for our reception of the finer details in a waveform.

Figure 2: Peaks and wiggles.