Individual pitch functions and pitch-duration cross-dimensional matching

Eight young adult subjects scaled the auditory dimensions of duration and pitch using a modified method of numerical magnitude balance and adjustment of the stimuli for individual equal-loudness differences. Individual duration and pitch functions for magnitude estimation and for magnitude production fit the power law well. When compared with the revised reel scale and the pitch function obtained by S. S. Stevens and Galanter (Journal of Experimental psychology, 1957,54, 377–411), the group magnitude estimation and magnitude production pitch functions plotted in log-log coordinates showed high degrees of linearity. This was due mostly to the absence of a rollover in the high-frequency range of the continuum. It was hypothesized that pitch may be viewed as a linear function. This hypothesis was further supported when the exponents of the pitch and duration functions were used to predict closely the group exponent of cross-dimension matches.