Disorders of Pitch Production in Tone Deafness

Abstract

Singing is as natural as speaking for the majority of people. Yet some individuals (i.e., 10–15%) are poor singers, typically performing or imitating pitches and melodies inaccurately. This condition, commonly referred to as “tone deafness,” has been observed both in the presence and absence of deficient pitch perception. In this article we review the existing literature concerning normal singing, poor-pitch singing, and, briefly, the sources of this condition. Considering that pitch plays a prominent role in the structure of both music and speech we also focus on the possibility that speech production (or imitation) is similarly impaired in poor-pitch singers. Preliminary evidence from our laboratory suggests that pitch imitation may be selectively inaccurate in the music domain without being affected in speech. This finding points to separability of mechanisms subserving pitch production in music and language.

Uncovering Beat Deafness: Detecting Rhythm Disorders with Synchronized Finger Tapping and Perceptual Timing Tasks

“…This dissociation between perception and action in the timing domain has been shown using synchronized tapping tasks with a variety of rhythmic auditory stimuli (e.g., a metronome and music) and using different rhythm perception tasks (e.g., the discrimination of melodies based on different note durations and the detection of deviations from isochrony in rhythmic sequences). This finding is particular relevant because it points to the possible separation of perception and action with regard to timing mechanisms, as previously observed in pitch processing 17,[22][23][24][25] . Further dissociations were highlighted depending on the stimulus complexity 2 .…”

“…Most poor synchronizers exhibited selective difficulties with complex stimuli (e.g., music or amplitude-modulated noise derived from music), while they still showed accurate and consistent synchronization with simple isochronous sequences; other poor synchronizers showed the opposite pattern. In summary, these results converge in indicating that there are a variety of phenotypes of timing disorders in the general population (as observed in other domains of musical processing such as pitch 25,26 ), which require a sensitive set of tasks to be detected. Characterizing the patterns of rhythm disorders is particularly relevant to shed light on the specific mechanisms that are malfunctioning in the timing system.…”

“…In most of the previous studies, sensorimotor synchronization and duration perception are typically studied independently using a variety of tasks 1,27 . However, there are indications that perception and action in time processing may dissociate in patients with brain damage 8 or beat deafness 2 , as previously observed in pitch processing 17,[22][23][24][25] . It is important to utilize a set of tasks capable of uncovering these dissociations without being biased by the choice of auditory materials.…”

BAASTA: Battery for the Assessment of Auditory Sensorimotor and Timing Abilities

“…In addition, by combining a set of both perceptual and sensorimotor tasks using the same auditory stimuli, BAASTA clearly allows to uncover potential dissociations between perception and action in the timing domain. There are indications that perception and action in duration and rhythm processing may dissociate in patients with brain damage (e.g., Fries & Swihart, 1990) or beat deafness (Sowiński & Dalla Bella, 2013), as previously observed for pitch processing (Dalla Bella & Berkowska, 2009;Dalla Bella, Berkowska, & Sowiński, 2011;Dalla Bella, Giguère, & Peretz, 2007;Loui, Guenther, Mathys, & Schlaug, 2008). In addition, the synchronization and perception tasks were performed with both simple and more complex auditory material (i.e., an isochronous sequence vs. music).…”

The relationship between music and language

“…Milovanov and Tervaniemi (2011) underscore the beneficial influence of musical aptitude on the acquisition linguistic skills as for example in acquiring a second language. Bella et al (2011) summarize findings of the existing literature concerning normal singing and poor-pitch singing and suggest that pitch imitation may be selectively inaccurate in the music domain without being affected in speech, thus supporting the separability of mechanisms subserving pitch production in music and language. In their extensive review of the literature, Besson et al (2011) discuss the transfer effects from music to speech by specifically focusing on the musical expertise in musicians.…”