Re: absolute pitch -- gender differences

[Thomas G Brennan <g_brennantg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At least in music, absolute pitch is close but not perfect pitch.  It may be
effected by different instruments or sounds or the quality of those sounds but
the person will always be close to the correct pitch or in the worst cast off by
a fifth.  Generally when I deal with students or those I'm training I can expect
them to get close to a note particularly of a musical instrument but probably
not be able to tell the difference between a 435, 440, or 444 A without some
reference.  With perfect picth there would be no problem telling such
differences and I have often seen people with perfect pitch get within one beat
when hearing frequency and how the sound is made seems to effect them not at
all.

As an aside, when I've done tinnitus testing it has always been far easier when
working with a person with musical training although the one time I worked with
someone with perfect pitch it was quite frustrating because she had so much
trouble understanding that sounds needed to be close but did not have to match
beat for beat.

Tom


Tom Brennan  KD5VIJ, CCC-A/SLP
web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html