Abstract
II KÖNIG has shown that in many cases, when two notes are sounded simultaneously, beats are heard, as though the most prominent phenomenon was the production of beats not between the two fundamental notes, but between the upper of these, and the nearest partial of the lower note. Inasmuch as these beats are heard when the lower note (as far as can be tested) is free from upper partials, this rule is not the explanation of the phenomenon, but it is a convenient way of expressing the results. In the experiment just described, the frequencies of the two notes were in the ratio 12 to 15. The first partial of the lower note (12) is therefore the nearest to the higher tone; that is to say, König's beat tone and the first difference tone are identical.
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Physical Work of Hermann Von Helmholtz1. Nature 51, 493–495 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/051493b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/051493b0