What is an Absolute Pitch?

Absolute pitch(AP) is recognizing or re-creating a musical note without references. Kids born under parents with AP will have a higher chance of the ability being innate because the absolute pitch is a strong genetic basis. Even if the offspring didn’t inherit AP from the parents, there is a chance that they will have AP (Perfect Pitch, 2024). According to ScienceDirect, the 4th year of a kid is the most critical period for them to practice and earn absolute pitch. Kids who practiced, listened to, and studied music have about 40% higher chance of having AP compared to the kids without practicing, whereas only 3% of the kids who practiced at the age of 9 gained AP (Baharloo et al., 2023).

Relationship Between Language and AP

According to Diana Deutsch, a professor of psychology at the University of California, (2006, 2011), there is a higher chance of kids having AP if the language they speak has tones. For example, in Vietnam, “ngủ” means sleep, and “ngu” means dumb. Because kids need to identify different words with the same spelling, their ears are generally sensitive to tones. On the other hand, kids with language without tones can make the ear dull to the tones because they don’t need to identify them(Baharloo et al., 2023). In Korean, mal(말) can mean a horse or a talk. People identify the meanings by the length of the word said. If “말” were said fast, it would mean horse and if said longer, it would mean a talk (Perfect Pitch, 2024). Since only the length of the word matters, sensitivity to different tones to Korean speakers is not as important as to Vietnamese speakers.

How People Hear and How it is Related to AP

People hear sounds by the sounds going through their cochlea. In the cochlea, there are hair cells that detect sounds, head movement, and balance. When sound waves go through and move them, they convert mechanical energy to electrical energy to send a message to the part of the brain that is in charge of interpreting, the temporal lobe. Specifically, it goes to the primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobe. In an experiment done by biologists and psychologists, it has been found that people with AP had larger primary auditory cortex than normal people (McKetton et al., 2019).

Image Credit: Mikael Häggström/Wikimedia.org

Image Credit: Queensland Government/Health.qld.gov.au

Does AP Stay Forever?

AP isn’t an eternal ability; if people don’t use AP, it gradually fades away. It can also disappear as the holder ages. In fact, out of the 20 AP possessors tested, all above the age of 40, 16 reported that their perception of semitone has changed (Baharloo et al., 2023). 

Conclusion

Having AP might not always be good. Though it helps some people to use their ability and benefit from it, that isn’t the case for others. Some people with AP struggle to hear the music because they only perceive and recognize the sounds as syllable names. This problem can be solved if they take some time off from music and practices because AP does not stay forever, but still, this would be difficult since people hear sounds from everywhere. 

References

How does a person with perfect pitch know the name of the precepts just by hearing the sound?. (2024, February 18). YouTube. Retrieved February 28, 2024, from https://youtu.be/M5omLww8930

Baharloo, S., Johnston, P. A., Service, S. K., Gitschier, J., & Freimer, N. B. (2023, May 19). ,. , - YouTube. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929707634867

McKetton, L., DeSimone, K., & Schneider, K. A. (2019, April 10). Larger Auditory Cortical Area and Broader Frequency Tuning Underlie Absolute Pitch. PubMed. Retrieved February 28, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30745420/

10-ELS-OXF_Deutsch1610679_CH005 141..182. (2013). Diana Deutsch. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from http://philomel.com/pdf/PsyMus_3_Ch5_Absolute_Pitch.pdf