Is it impossible to acquire absolute pitch in adulthood?

Wong, Yetta Kwailing; Lui, Kelvin F. H.; Yip, Ken H. M.; Wong, Alan C.-N.

doi:10.1101/355933

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 110 publications

(213 reference statements)

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“…The incidence of absolute pitch is given as 1:10.000, whereby professional musicians are signi cantly more likely to be absolute listeners (21). This supports the hypothesis that absolute pitch is not an "innate gift", but a memory performance that can be achieved through regular training (22). It might therefore be interesting to investigate whether sound interventions in general and 432 Hz in particular have the same bene cial effects in professional musicians.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Differential effects of sound interventions tuned to 432 Hz or 443 Hz on cardiovascular parameters in cancer patients: A randomized cross-over trial

Hohneck,

Rodríguez,

Weingärtner

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Background This study investigated whether a sound intervention tuned to 432 Hertz (Hz) yields differential effects on cardiovascular parameters and psychological outcomes compared to 443 Hz, which is the concert pitch in German professional orchestras. Methods Using a randomized cross-over design, patients with cancer were recruited to receive both a 15-minute sound intervention with a body monochord tuned to 432 Hz or 443 Hz. Before (pre) and after (post) intervention, cardiovascular parameters were measured using the VascAssist2.0. In addition, visual analogue scales (VAS) for emotional well-being, anxiety, stress, pain and sadness were also assessed pre and post intervention. Results 43 patients (8 male, 35 female) with a median age of 61 years (range 35–86) were included. Both interventions led to a significant reduction in heart rate with a more pronounced effect for 432 Hz (median reduction − 3 bpm (432 Hz) vs median reduction − 1 bpm (443 Hz), p = 0.04). While heart rate variability was increased exclusively by 432 Hz (median increase + 3 ms, p = 0.01), both vascular resistance (median reduction − 5%, p = 0.008) and stiffness (median reduction %, p = 0.04) were significantly reduced by 432 Hz, which was not observed at 443 Hz. Nevertheless, these effects were not significantly different compared to 443 Hz. On the other hand, 432 Hz led to a reduced pulse wave velocity (median reduction − 0.5 m/s, p < 0.001), which was also significantly different compared to 443 Hz (p < 0.001). Improvement in VAS was observed for both groups, with significant increases in emotional well-being and reduction in fatigue, anxiety and stress for both intervention timepoints, although the majority showed no increased VAS scores even before the intervention (median values 0 for anxiety and stress). Conclusion Sound interventions tuned to 432 Hz or 443 Hz exert both positive effects in cancer patients. While psychological outcomes are improved by both interventions, 432 Hz leads to a more pronounced but not significantly different effect to 443 Hz on objective cardiovascular parameters, which reflect deeper relaxation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Differential effects of sound interventions tuned to 432 Hz or 443 Hz on cardiovascular parameters in cancer patients: A randomized cross-over trial

Hohneck,

Rodríguez,

Weingärtner

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…Rather, in some cases, a rather modest degree of learning may be sufficient to result in “genuine AP” levels of performance. Yet, approaching AP as a learnable skill into adulthood has been largely dismissed in the literature, despite a growing body of research suggesting that, even among AP possessors, absolute pitch ability can be significantly strengthened or even weakened by environmental experiences (e.g., recent musical training) outside of a critical period [31,45,46], and despite the existence of some adult AP training studies that have similarly found impressive levels of note naming performance after training [12,47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Absolute pitch can be learned by some adults

2019

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Absolute pitch (AP), the rare ability to name any musical note without the aid of a reference note, is thought to depend on an early critical period of development. Although recent research has shown that adults can improve AP performance in a single training session, the best learners still did not achieve note classification levels comparable to performance of a typical, “genuine” AP possessor. Here, we demonstrate that these “genuine” levels of AP performance can be achieved within eight weeks of training for at least some adults, with the best learner passing all measures of AP ability after training and retaining this knowledge for at least four months after training. Alternative explanations of these positive results, such as improving accuracy through adopting a slower, relative pitch strategy, are not supported based on joint analyses of response time and accuracy. The results also did not appear to be driven by extreme familiarity with a single instrument or octave range, as the post-training AP assessments used eight different timbres and spanned over seven octaves. Yet, it is also important to note that a majority of the participants only exhibited modest improvements in performance, suggesting that adult AP learning is difficult and that near-perfect levels of AP may only be achievable by subset of adults. Overall, these results demonstrate that explicit perceptual training in some adults can lead to AP performance that is behaviorally indistinguishable from AP that manifests within a critical period of development. Implications for theories of AP acquisition are discussed.

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Is it impossible to acquire absolute pitch in adulthood?

Cited by 2 publications

References 110 publications

Differential effects of sound interventions tuned to 432 Hz or 443 Hz on cardiovascular parameters in cancer patients: A randomized cross-over trial

Differential effects of sound interventions tuned to 432 Hz or 443 Hz on cardiovascular parameters in cancer patients: A randomized cross-over trial

Absolute pitch can be learned by some adults

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