title: Does static ear canal pressure influence pure tone pitch perception?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  That static ear canal air pressure (ECP) influences the frequency of spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAEs) suggests that it may influence intracochlear, in addition to middle ear, processes. A previous study suggested that ECP influences pure tone pitch perception at 1,000 Hz, which was interpreted as indicating an effect on the cochlear place-frequency map. The present study extended investigations of this effect to 500 and 4,000 Hz.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine normal-hearing listeners performed interaural pitch matching with monaural ECPs of 0 and -300 daPa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Some indications of a small downward pitch shift (mean 0.2%) at 500 Hz were observed, which were marginally statistically significant at the 5% level. No pitch shifts were observed at 4,000 Hz.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ECP does not influence pitch to the extent suggested previously or by SOAE frequency shifts. No evidence was found to support the notion that ECP influences the place-frequency map.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. dr@isvr.soton.ac.uk
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rowan
authors.forename: Sarosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kapadia
authors.forename: Mark E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Lutman
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D004424:Ear Canal / Q000502:physiology*; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology*; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011312:Pressure