Comorbidity and cognitive overlap between developmental dyslexia and congenital amusia in children

Abstract

Developmental dyslexia and congenital amusia are two specific neurodevelopmental disorders that affect reading and music perception, respectively. Similarities at perceptual, cognitive, and anatomical levels raise the possibility that a common factor is at play in their emergence, albeit in different domains. However, little consideration has been given to what extent they can co-occur. A first adult study suggested a 30% amusia rate in dyslexia and a 25% dyslexia rate in amusia (Couvignou et al., Cognitive Neuropsychology 2019). We present newly acquired data from 38 dyslexic and 38 typically developing children. These were assessed with literacy and phonological tests, as well as with three musical tests: the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Musical Abilities, a pitch and time change detection task, and a singing task. Overall, about 34% of the dyslexic children were musically impaired, a proportion that is significantly higher than both the estimated 1.5-4% prevalence of congenital amusia in the general population and the rate of 5% observed within the control group. They were mostly affected in the pitch dimension, both in terms of perception and production. Correlations and prediction links were found between pitch processing skills and language measures after partialing out confounding factors. These findings are discussed with regard to cognitive and neural explanatory hypotheses of a comorbidity between dyslexia and amusia.

Development of auditory cognition in 5‐ to 10‐year‐old children: Focus on musical and verbal short‐term memory

“…(2008). Furthermore, a sizeable comorbidity between dyslexia and congenital amusia has been observed in adults and children (Couvignou & Kolinsky, 2021; Couvignou et al., 2019). Congenital amusia is characterized by a deficit in music processing and in particular musical STM (Tillmann et al., 2009, 2016).…”

“…Dyslexic children display lower performance than typically-developing children in recognition STM tasks for pitch (Ziegler et al, 2012) and in tonal recognition tasks from the Primary Measure of Music Audiation (PMMA, Gordon, 1986) as shown by Atterbury (1985) and Forgeard et al (2008). Furthermore, a sizeable comorbidity between dyslexia and congenital amusia has been observed in adults and children (Couvignou & Kolinsky, 2021;Couvignou et al, 2019). Congenital amusia is characterized by a deficit in music processing and in particular musical STM (Tillmann et al, 2009(Tillmann et al, , 2016.…”

Congenital amusia—pathology of musical disorder

“…It has been firmly established that amusia is not derived from hearing loss, brain damage, or intellectual deficiencies. Only weak associations with dyslexia (Couvignou and Kolinsky 2021 ), syntactic processing in music and language (Sun et al 2018 ), and spatial orientation [14] were found. The study of Couvignou and Kolinsky ( 2021 ) testing 38 dyslecting children by MBAE test has revealed amusia in 34% of the study group versus 5% amusicals in the typically developing children.…”

“…Only weak associations with dyslexia (Couvignou and Kolinsky 2021 ), syntactic processing in music and language (Sun et al 2018 ), and spatial orientation [14] were found. The study of Couvignou and Kolinsky ( 2021 ) testing 38 dyslecting children by MBAE test has revealed amusia in 34% of the study group versus 5% amusicals in the typically developing children. All the mentioned symptoms are only marginally identifiable in amusical subjects.…”

The relationship between acoustic and musical pitch processing in adolescents

“…Congenital amusia effects about 1.5% of the adult population, and, in addition to the pitch discrimination deficit, is characterized by an inability to recognize familiar melodies, and difficulty identifying when notes in a melody are out‐of‐key (Peretz, 2016; Peretz & Vuvan, 2017; Vuvan et al, 2015). Critically, congenital amusia is not associated with any other hearing disorders; however, recent research has found some degree of comorbidity with dyslexia (Couvignou & Kolinsky, 2021; Couvignou et al, 2019). Moreover, amusia is not due to lack of exposure to music in childhood (Mignault Goulet et al, 2012) and likely has a genetic source (Peretz et al, 2007; Peretz & Vuvan, 2017).…”