Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 178103 (2003) [4 pages]Zwicker Tone Illusion and Noise Reduction in the Auditory SystemReceived 19 September 2002; published 1 May 2003 The Zwicker tone is an auditory aftereffect. For instance, after switching off a broadband noise with a spectral gap, one perceives it as a lingering pure tone with the pitch in the gap. It is a unique illusion in that it cannot be explained by known properties of the auditory periphery alone. Here we introduce a neuronal model explaining the Zwicker tone. We show that a neuronal noise-reduction mechanism in conjunction with dominantly unilateral inhibition explains the effect. A pure tone’s “hole burning” in noisy surroundings is given as an illustration. © 2003 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.178103
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.178103
PACS:
87.19.Dd, 43.64.+r, 43.66.+y, 87.19.Bb
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