Missing fundamental

The missing fundamental is the necessarily missing pitch which higher frequencies refer to. For instance, cheap stereo speakers will not produce low frequencies. If a pitch is then played in this range, only its higher frequency components, or overtones, will be produced. However, the fundamental will still be heard, re-placed by physics of the ear, since all higher frequencies are mathematically related to the fundamental. This is an auditory illusion.

Links:

• [Pitch Paradoxical]