The Relation of Pitch to the Duration of a Tone
S. S. Stevens, A. G. Ekdahl · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1939
The traditional problem as to the number of complete cycles required for a short tone to give rise to the perception of a definite pitch can not be answered by a single figure. As the duration of a tone is shortened, several changes occur: the apparent pitch of the tone becomes lower, the uncertainty of the pitch becomes gradually greater, and the sensation comes more and more to resemble a “toneless” click. It can be demonstrated, however, that even when, to casual observation, nothing remains but a click the click is not entirely “pitchless.” Tones lose their pitch gradually, not abruptly, as their duration is shortened, and it appears that as long as any sound remains we can, within certain limits, assign a pitch to it.