The missing fundamental is the perceptual phenomenon in which a listener hears a pitch corresponding to a sound lowest, or fundamental, frequency even when that frequency is not actually present in the signal, so long as some of its higher overtones are present. The effect is why small speakers that cannot physically reproduce very low frequencies can still make a listener perceive a low bass note, by playing only the overtones of that missing fundamental.
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Classification
Type of Phenomenon Sources
1. Wikipedia: Missing Fundamental
Wikipedialead section, phenomenon-kind classificationQuote, lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
The missing fundamental phenomenon is the perceptual phenomenon of hearing a pitch corresponding to the lowest (fundamental) harmonic when presented with sound made of a set of frequency multiples (overtones), even when it is actually absent.
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