Poor-Pitch Singing in the Absence of "Tone Deafness"

Pfordresher, Peter Q.; Brown, Steven

doi:10.1525/mp.2007.25.2.95

Cited by 150 publications

(405 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This finding may lead to the conclusion that occasional singers are indeed very inaccurate in imitating singles pitches. Yet higher accuracy (i.e., below 0.5 semitones) was obtained when pitches to be imitated were synthesised voices or sung productions (Pfordresher & Brown, 2007;Wise & Sloboda, 2008).…”

Section: Singing Proficiency In the General Populationmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…However, these subjective judgments likely underestimate occasional singers' actual proficiency. Systematic studies based on objective measurements of singing accuracy indicate that the prevalence of poor singing is lower, probably confined to 10-15% of the population (Dalla Bella & Berkowska, 2009;Dalla Bella et al, 2007;Pfordresher & Brown, 2007). We will discuss poor singing in a separate section.…”

Section: Singing Proficiency In the General Populationmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Such belief is confirmed by occasional singers' assessment of their own sung renditions. For example, almost 60% of 1,000 university students reported that they cannot imitate melodies (Pfordresher & Brown, 2007). Moreover, self-declared tone-deaf individuals (around 17% of the student population) believe that they cannot carry a tune (Cuddy et al, 2005).…”

Section: Singing Proficiency In the General Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a study by Pfordresher and Brown (2007) more than 100 university students imitated short melodies with increasing complexity (i.e., a single repeated note, a sequence including a single pitch change and four-note melodies). Most occasional singers successfully imitated melodies (i.e., produced pitches were within + 1 semitone from the target pitches).…”

Section: Singing Proficiency In the General Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, in spite of the fact that occasional singers can typically sing in-tune and in-time, a few individuals have notorious difficulties in carrying a tune. Poor singing, observed approximately in 10-15% of the general population (Dalla Bella & Berkowska, 2009;Dalla Bella et al, 2007;Pfordresher & Brown, 2007), is often considered a hallmark of a more general lack of musicality, or tone deafness (Sloboda et al, 2005). The widespread term 'tone deafness' literally suggests that poor singing may be the consequence of deficient perception.…”

Section: Poor Singing In the General Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Singing and Its Neuronal Substrates: Evidence from the General Population

Bella¹,

Berkowska²

2009

Contemporary Music Review

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This article reviews a range of behavioural and neuroimaging studies with the goal of characterising proficient singing in the general population and identifying its neuronal underpinnings. Evidence is provided to suggest that the majority of individuals can carry a tune, and that a complex neural network engaging motor, auditory and sensorimotor integration areas supports this ability. These mechanisms can be disrupted by a brain insult or neurogenetic disorders leading to inaccurate singing. A variety of poor-singing patterns are described (e.g., with or without concurrent perceptual deficiencies).The study of these poor-singing phenotypes is useful in understanding the complex structure of the song system and its neuronal substrates.

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Section: Singing Proficiency In the General Populationmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Singing Proficiency In the General Populationmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Singing Proficiency In the General Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Singing Proficiency In the General Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Poor Singing In the General Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Singing and Its Neuronal Substrates: Evidence from the General Population

Bella¹,

Berkowska²

2009

Contemporary Music Review

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Individuals with autism spectrum disorder are impaired in absolute but not relative pitch and duration matching in speech and song imitation

et al. 2021

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Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit atypical imitation. However, few studies have identified clear quantitative characteristics of vocal imitation in ASD. This study investigated imitation of speech and song in English‐speaking individuals with and without ASD and its modulation by age. Participants consisted of 25 autistic children and 19 autistic adults, who were compared to 25 children and 19 adults with typical development matched on age, gender, musical training, and cognitive abilities. The task required participants to imitate speech and song stimuli with varying pitch and duration patterns. Acoustic analyses of the imitation performance suggested that individuals with ASD were worse than controls on absolute pitch and duration matching for both speech and song imitation, although they performed as well as controls on relative pitch and duration matching. Furthermore, the two groups produced similar numbers of pitch contour, pitch interval‐, and time errors. Across both groups, sung pitch was imitated more accurately than spoken pitch, whereas spoken duration was imitated more accurately than sung duration. Children imitated spoken pitch more accurately than adults when it came to speech stimuli, whereas age showed no significant relationship to song imitation. These results reveal a vocal imitation deficit across speech and music domains in ASD that is specific to absolute pitch and duration matching. This finding provides evidence for shared mechanisms between speech and song imitation, which involves independent implementation of relative versus absolute features. Lay Summary Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit atypical imitation of actions and gestures. Characteristics of vocal imitation in ASD remain unclear. By comparing speech and song imitation, this study shows that individuals with ASD have a vocal imitative deficit that is specific to absolute pitch and duration matching, while performing as well as controls on relative pitch and duration matching, across speech and music domains.

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Understanding Intonation Trajectories and Patterns of Vocal Notes

Dai

Dixon

2018

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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Poor-Pitch Singing in the Absence of "Tone Deafness"

Cited by 150 publications

References 36 publications

Singing and Its Neuronal Substrates: Evidence from the General Population

Singing and Its Neuronal Substrates: Evidence from the General Population

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder are impaired in absolute but not relative pitch and duration matching in speech and song imitation

Understanding Intonation Trajectories and Patterns of Vocal Notes

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