Acquiring Relative Pitch Perception as a Function of Age

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the ability to learn relative pitch-perception, and how it is affected by age, frequency, and ear. Thirty-four musically naive subjects were assigned to four age groups and taught individually, over a period of five daily sessions, to adjust the frequency of a variable stimulus to be twice the frequency of (or an octave higher than) a specified reference stimulus. Three-octave intervals were learned in this manner with either the left or right ear. Results indicated no age or ear difference in amount of accuracy attained. The octave interval 1000–2000 Hz appeared significantly more difficult to estimate accurately than the octave intervals 400–800 Hz or 1500–3000 Hz, however. The youngest age group learned the task with maximum accuracy more quickly than the older age groups. There was, furthermore, a significant ear difference in how quickly the task was learned. This difference, however, was frequency-dependent.

Keywords

acoustics age aural discrimination learning theory memory music achievement tests.

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