The place theory of pitch perception suggests that the pitch of a sound is determined by the specific location on the cochlea's basilar membrane that is stimulated by the sound wave. Different frequencies of sound waves cause vibrations in different places along the cochlea—high-frequency sounds stimulate the base of the cochlea while low-frequency sounds stimulate the apex. The brain interprets these different locations of stimulation as different pitches. Essentially, each place along the cochlea is tuned to a particular frequency, and the brain identifies pitch based on the position of the activated area on the basilar membrane.
This theory was originally proposed by Hermann von Helmholtz and is supported by the anatomical organization of the cochlea and the tonotopic mapping of frequencies onto the auditory neurons. At higher frequencies, the place theory primarily explains pitch perception, while at lower frequencies, other mechanisms like temporal coding may also contribute.
