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Daniel J. Levitin wrote:
>
> >Dear auditory list,
> >
> >Can anyone give me a reference to a perceptual study of pitch shift with
> >age? Am I correct that the general finding is that there is an upward
> >shift in the perception of pitch in older individuals, and is the
> >mechanism known?
I would guess that the effect is related to hearing loss rather than aging,
which is called presbycusis, defined as `neural hearing loss due to aging.'
There is a natural upward shift of 'pure tone place' in the cochlea with hearing
loss, of any type, and this place-shift is therefore correlated to presbycusis.
Look at my home page for details.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Ani Patel
> >--
>
> Ani,
>
> It is well documented that possessors of Absolute Pitch experience pitch
> shifts with age, usually with the age of onset around 50. I'm not sure
> what it means to talk about a shift in pitch perception in someone who
> doesn't have AP.
>
> For references, see Triepel, 1934 (cited in Ward & Burns, 1982); Vernon,
> 1977; Corliss, 1973; Abraham, 1901.
>
> Also, a group in Washington showed that pitch shift can be induced in AP
> possessors through administration of a psychoactive drug (Chaloupka et al,
> 1994).
>
> Some authors have suggested the pitch shift could be do to shrinkage of the
> cochlea. Some of this literature is keyworded by the term "paracusis."
I never heard of this one before. What part of the cochlea shrinks?
(hint: The cochlea is encased in bone.)
>
> References.
>
> Abraham, O. (1901). Das absolute Tonbewusstein. Sammelbde.
> International Musikges, 3, 1-86.
> Chaloupka, V.; Mitchell, S.; Muirhead, R. (1994). Observation of a
> reversible, medication-indued change in pitch perception. JASA, 96(1),
> 145-149.
> Corliss, E. L. (1973). Remark on "fixed scale mechanism of absolute
> pitch." JASA, 53, 1737-1739.
> Vernon, P. E. (1977). Absolute pitch: A case study. British Journal of
> Psychology, 68, 485-489.
> Ward, W. D., and Burns, E. M. (1982). Absolute Pitch. In D. Deutsch (Ed.)
> Psychology of Music. San Diego: Academic Press, 431-451.
>
> ==============================================
> Daniel J. Levitin, M.Sc., Ph.D. Phone: (650) 723-4971
> CCRMA/Dept. of Music FAX: (650) 723-8468
> Stanford University email: levitin@ccrma.stanford.edu
> Stanford, CA 94305
>
> Visiting Scholar, Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics
>
> Home Page: http://www-ccrma.stanford.edu/~levitin
>
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