Cochlear Nonlinear Network Correlate of Consonant vs Dissonant Sounds Perception
Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 078402 – Published 11 August, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/8brp-kdpy
Abstract
For centuries, the human distinction between consonant and dissonant dyadic sounds (“c-d perception phenomenon”) has remained an unresolved puzzle, igniting novel directions in physics research. Here, we demonstrate that nonlinear sound processing by the network of activated cochlear amplifiers reveals a close correlate of the psychoacoustic perception that matches the behavioral data to the level of the best phenomenological approach, suggesting that combination-tone avalanches triggered from coupled nonlinear oscillators, paired with biological information parsimony, may be the essential elements underlying this phenomenon. The observed correlate highlights the potential of a physics-driven explanation of behavioral phenomena that are commonly attributed to “the cortex” but may have their origins in the nonlinear properties of the involved sensors.
