Melodies, speech, and other stimuli that vary in pitch are processed largely in terms of the relative pitch differences between sounds. Relative representations permit recognition of pitch patterns despite variations in overall pitch level between instruments or speakers. A key component of relative pitch is the sequence of pitch increases and decreases from note to note, known as the melodic contour. Here we report that contour representations are also produced by patterns in loudness and brightness (an aspect of timbre). The representations of contours in different dimensions evidently have much in common, as contours in one dimension can be readily recognized in other dimensions. Moreover, contours in loudness and brightness are nearly as useful as pitch contours for recognizing familiar melodies that are normally conveyed via pitch. Our results indicate that relative representations via contour extraction are a general feature of the auditory system, and may have a common central locus.

中文翻译：

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相对音高是否特定于音高？

旋律、语音和其他音高变化的刺激主要根据声音之间的相对音高差异进行处理。尽管乐器或扬声器之间的整体音高水平存在差异，但相对表示允许识别音高模式。相对音高的一个关键组成部分是音高从一个音符到另一个音符的增减序列，称为旋律轮廓。在这里，我们报告说，轮廓表示也由响度和亮度（音色的一个方面）的模式产生。不同维度的轮廓表示显然有很多共同点，因为一维的轮廓可以很容易地在其他维度上识别。此外，响度和亮度的轮廓在识别通常通过音高传达的熟悉的旋律方面几乎与音高轮廓一样有用。