[3] Hermann von Helmholtz elaborated the law into what is often today known as Ohm's acoustic law, by adding that the quality of a tone depends solely on the number and relative strength of its partial simple tones, and not on their relative phases.
[4][5] Helmholtz championed the law in opposition to contrary evidence expounded by August Seebeck.
In modern times, the sensitivity of human hearing to the phase of tone components has been extensively investigated.
[8] Controversy has led to this characterization:[9] For years musicians have been told that the ear is able to separate any complex signal into a series of sinusoidal signals – that it acts as a Fourier analyzer.
This quarter-truth, known as Ohm's Other Law, has served to increase the distrust with which perceptive musicians regard scientists, since it is readily apparent to them that the ear acts in this way only under very restricted conditions.