1
|
Kervin SR. The Key to Singing Off-Key: The Trained Singer and Pitch Perception Distortion. J Voice 2023:S0892-1997(22)00417-9. [PMID: 36732108 DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.12.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2022] [Revised: 12/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Pitch perception distortion (PPD) is a novel term describing a phenomenon in which an amplified, accompanied singer's perception of their sung pitch relative to band or accompaniment becomes ambiguous, leading to one of two conditions: a) the singer believes they are out of tune with the accompaniment, but are in tune as perceived by a listener, or b) the singer believes they are in tune with the accompaniment, but are not. This pilot study aims to investigate the existence and incidence of PPD among amplified, accompanied performers and identify associated variables. DESIGN/METHODS 115 singers were recruited to participate in an online survey, which collected information on musical training, performance environment, and PPD experience. RESULTS Reported PPD incidence was 68%, with 92% of respondents indicating that PPD occurred rarely. The factors reported as most associated with PPD experiences included loud stage volume, poor song familiarity, singing outside one's habitual pitch range, and singing loudly. Contrary to previous studies and our hypotheses, no association was found between modality of auditory feedback (e.g., in-ears versus floor monitors) and incidence of PPD. Additionally, higher levels of training were found to be associated with higher incidence of PPD. CONCLUSIONS The reported incidence supports that PPD exists beyond chance and anecdotal experience. In light of the highly trained sample, the data suggest that pitch accuracy in accompanied, amplified performance may be more associated with aural environment-specifically loud stage volume-and a highly trained singer's tuning strategy in response to that environment rather than a singer's mastery of vocal intonation skills in isolation. Loud stage volume was implicated as a primary factor associated with PPD, which may be related to the stapedius reflex. Future investigations will target attempted elicitation of PPD in trained singers after establishing baseline auditory reflex thresholds and objective measurements of intonation accuracy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah R Kervin
- New York University, Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, 665 Broadway #9, New York, NY, 10012; Grabscheid Voice and Swallowing Center, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, 380 2nd Ave, 9th Fl, New York, NY, 10010.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Belyk M, Johnson JF, Kotz SA. Poor neuro-motor tuning of the human larynx: a comparison of sung and whistled pitch imitation. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2018; 5:171544. [PMID: 29765635 PMCID: PMC5936900 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2017] [Accepted: 03/13/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Vocal imitation is a hallmark of human communication that underlies the capacity to learn to speak and sing. Even so, poor vocal imitation abilities are surprisingly common in the general population and even expert vocalists cannot match the precision of a musical instrument. Although humans have evolved a greater degree of control over the laryngeal muscles that govern voice production, this ability may be underdeveloped compared with control over the articulatory muscles, such as the tongue and lips, volitional control of which emerged earlier in primate evolution. Human participants imitated simple melodies by either singing (i.e. producing pitch with the larynx) or whistling (i.e. producing pitch with the lips and tongue). Sung notes were systematically biased towards each individual's habitual pitch, which we hypothesize may act to conserve muscular effort. Furthermore, while participants who sung more precisely also whistled more precisely, sung imitations were less precise than whistled imitations. The laryngeal muscles that control voice production are under less precise control than the oral muscles that are involved in whistling. This imprecision may be due to the relatively recent evolution of volitional laryngeal-motor control in humans, which may be tuned just well enough for the coarse modulation of vocal-pitch in speech.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michel Belyk
- Bloorview Research Institute, 150 Kilgour Road, Toronto, CanadaM4G 1R8
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Joseph F. Johnson
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Sonja A. Kotz
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human and Cognitive Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Sensorimotor Mismapping in Poor-pitch Singing. J Voice 2017; 31:645.e23-645.e32. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2017.02.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2016] [Revised: 02/22/2017] [Accepted: 02/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
|
4
|
Fadel CBX, Ribas A, Lüders D, Fonseca VR, Cat MNL. Pitch-Matching Accuracy and Temporal Auditory Processing. Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2017; 22:113-118. [PMID: 29619097 PMCID: PMC5882370 DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1603763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2016] [Accepted: 05/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction
Pitch-matching refers to the ability to vocally reproduce an acoustic model in a corresponding tone to the presented sound. This ability, which is dependent on pitch perception ability, can vary among individuals, and some are not able to sing in the correct tune or discriminate differences between tones.
Objective
To correlate pitch-matching accuracy and auditory processing in individuals without musical training.
Methods
A Pitch-Matching Test (vocal reproduction of synthesized and human voice sounds) and two commercially available tests of auditory temporal processing (the Pitch Pattern Sequence Test and the Random Gap Detection Test) were administered to all participants. A total of 62 college students of both genders, aged between 18 and 35 years old, were divided into 2 groups, according to their performances in the Pitch-Matching Test (the accurate match group and the inaccurate match group).
Results
In the Pitch-Matching Test, both groups achieved better results when reproducing vocalized sounds. The accurate match group achieved a significantly higher pitch pattern sequence test performance. In the Random Gap Detection Test analysis, there were no differences between the two groups. The Pearson's chi-squared test showed a direct correlation between the Pitch-Matching Test and the Pitch Pattern Sequence Test.
Conclusion
The findings of this study suggest the existence of a significant relationship between temporal auditory processing and pitch-matching, through which accurate pitch-matching individuals perform better in the Pitch Pattern Sequence Test. Inaccurate pitch-matching individuals may be skilled at discriminating pitch, despite their poor performance in the Pitch-Matching Test.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Angela Ribas
- Post-Graduation Program in Communication Disorders, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
| | - Débora Lüders
- Post-Graduation Program in Communication Disorders, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
| | - Vinicius Ribas Fonseca
- Post-Graduation Program in Communication Disorders, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.,Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Otorrinos, Hospital da Cruz Vermelha, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
| | - Monica Nunes Lima Cat
- Post-Graduation in Children and Teenagers Health, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Duvvuru S, Erickson M. The Effect of Timbre, Pitch, and Vibrato on Vocal Pitch-Matching Accuracy. J Voice 2015; 30:378.e1-378.e12. [PMID: 26094167 DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2015.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2014] [Accepted: 05/15/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS This study seeks to examine how target stimulus timbre, vibrato, pitch, and singer classification affect pitch-matching accuracy. STUDY DESIGN This is a repeated-measures factorial design. METHODS Source signals were synthesized with a source slope of -12 dB/octave with and without vibrato at each of the pitches, C4, B4, and F5. These source signals were filtered using five formant patterns (A-E) constituting a total of 30 stimuli (5 formant patterns × 3 pitches × 2 vibrato conditions). Twelve sopranos and 11 mezzo-sopranos with at least 3 years of individual voice training were recruited from the University Of Tennessee, Knoxville, School of Music and the Knoxville Opera Company. Each singer attempted to match the pitch of all 30 stimuli presented twice in a random order. RESULTS Results indicated that there was no significant effect of formant pattern on pitch-matching accuracy. With increasing pitch from C4 to F5, pitch-matching accuracy increased in midpoint of the vowel condition but not in prephonatory set condition. Mezzo-sopranos moved toward being in tune from prephonatory to midpoint of the vowel. However, sopranos at C4 sang closer to being in tune at prephonatory but lowered the pitch at the midpoint of the vowel. Presence or absence of vibrato did not affect the pitch-matching accuracy. However, the interesting finding of the study was that singers attempted to match the timbre of stimuli with vibrato. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study show that pitch matching is a complex process affected by many parameters.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sirisha Duvvuru
- Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Knoxville, Tennessee
| | - Molly Erickson
- Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Knoxville, Tennessee.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Pfordresher PQ, Larrouy-Maestri P. On drawing a line through the spectrogram: how do we understand deficits of vocal pitch imitation? Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:271. [PMID: 26029088 PMCID: PMC4432667 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2014] [Accepted: 04/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years there has been a remarkable increase in research focusing on deficits of pitch production in singing. A critical concern has been the identification of “poor pitch singers,” which we refer to more generally as individuals having a “vocal pitch imitation deficit.” The present paper includes a critical assessment of the assumption that vocal pitch imitation abilities can be treated as a dichotomy. Though this practice may be useful for data analysis and may be necessary within educational practice, we argue that this approach is complicated by a series of problems. Moreover, we argue that a more informative (and less problematic) approach comes from analyzing vocal pitch imitation abilities on a continuum, referred to as effect magnitude regression, and offer examples concerning how researchers may analyze data using this approach. We also argue that the understanding of this deficit may be better served by focusing on the effects of experimental manipulations on different individuals, rather than attempt to treat values of individual measures, and isolated tasks, as absolute measures of ability.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Pauline Larrouy-Maestri
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY, USA ; Department of Psychology, University of Liège Liège, Belgium ; Department of Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics Frankfurt, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Lévêque Y, Schön D. Modulation of the motor cortex during singing-voice perception. Neuropsychologia 2015; 70:58-63. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2014] [Revised: 01/16/2015] [Accepted: 02/09/2015] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
|
8
|
Pfordresher PQ, Mantell JT. Singing with yourself: evidence for an inverse modeling account of poor-pitch singing. Cogn Psychol 2014; 70:31-57. [PMID: 24480454 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2013.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2013] [Revised: 12/16/2013] [Accepted: 12/31/2013] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Singing is a ubiquitous and culturally significant activity that humans engage in from an early age. Nevertheless, some individuals - termed poor-pitch singers - are unable to match target pitches within a musical semitone while singing. In the experiments reported here, we tested whether poor-pitch singing deficits would be reduced when individuals imitate recordings of themselves as opposed to recordings of other individuals. This prediction was based on the hypothesis that poor-pitch singers have not developed an abstract "inverse model" of the auditory-vocal system and instead must rely on sensorimotor associations that they have experienced directly, which is true for sequences an individual has already produced. In three experiments, participants, both accurate and poor-pitch singers, were better able to imitate sung recordings of themselves than sung recordings of other singers. However, this self-advantage was enhanced for poor-pitch singers. These effects were not a byproduct of self-recognition (Experiment 1), vocal timbre (Experiment 2), or the absolute pitch of target recordings (i.e., the advantage remains when recordings are transposed, Experiment 3). Results support the conceptualization of poor-pitch singing as an imitative deficit resulting from a deficient inverse model of the auditory-vocal system with respect to pitch.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Peter Q Pfordresher
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, United States.
| | - James T Mantell
- Department of Psychology, St. Mary's College of Maryland, United States
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Yang WX, Feng J, Huang WT, Zhang CX, Nan Y. Perceptual pitch deficits coexist with pitch production difficulties in music but not Mandarin speech. Front Psychol 2014; 4:1024. [PMID: 24474944 PMCID: PMC3893622 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.01024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2013] [Accepted: 12/31/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Congenital amusia is a musical disorder that mainly affects pitch perception. Among Mandarin speakers, some amusics also have difficulties in processing lexical tones (tone agnosics). To examine to what extent these perceptual deficits may be related to pitch production impairments in music and Mandarin speech, eight amusics, eight tone agnosics, and 12 age- and IQ-matched normal native Mandarin speakers were asked to imitate music note sequences and Mandarin words of comparable lengths. The results indicated that both the amusics and tone agnosics underperformed the controls on musical pitch production. However, tone agnosics performed no worse than the amusics, suggesting that lexical tone perception deficits may not aggravate musical pitch production difficulties. Moreover, these three groups were all able to imitate lexical tones with perfect intelligibility. Taken together, the current study shows that perceptual musical pitch and lexical tone deficits might coexist with musical pitch production difficulties. But at the same time these perceptual pitch deficits might not affect lexical tone production or the intelligibility of the speech words that were produced. The perception-production relationship for pitch among individuals with perceptual pitch deficits may be, therefore, domain-dependent.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wu-Xia Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| | - Jie Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| | - Wan-Ting Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| | - Cheng-Xiang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| | - Yun Nan
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; International Data Group/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Lévêque Y, Schön D. Listening to the human voice alters sensorimotor brain rhythms. PLoS One 2013; 8:e80659. [PMID: 24265836 PMCID: PMC3827177 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2013] [Accepted: 10/05/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
While neuronal desynchronization in the mu (≈ 10 Hz) and beta (≈ 20 Hz) frequency bands has long been known to be an EEG index of sensorimotor activity, this method has rarely been employed to study auditory perception. In the present study, we measured mu and beta event-related desynchronisation (ERD) while participants were asked to listen to vocal and triangle-wave melodies and to sing them back. Results showed that mu and beta ERD began earlier and were stronger when listening to vocal compared to non-vocal melodies. Interestingly, this humanness effect was stronger for less accurate singers. These results show that voice perception favors an early involvement of motor representations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yohana Lévêque
- Laboratoire Parole et Langage, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Daniele Schön
- Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives de la Méditerranée, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Hutchins S, Moreno S. The Linked Dual Representation model of vocal perception and production. Front Psychol 2013; 4:825. [PMID: 24204360 PMCID: PMC3817506 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2013] [Accepted: 10/17/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The voice is one of the most important media for communication, yet there is a wide range of abilities in both the perception and production of the voice. In this article, we review this range of abilities, focusing on pitch accuracy as a particularly informative case, and look at the factors underlying these abilities. Several classes of models have been posited describing the relationship between vocal perception and production, and we review the evidence for and against each class of model. We look at how the voice is different from other musical instruments and review evidence about both the association and the dissociation between vocal perception and production abilities. Finally, we introduce the Linked Dual Representation (LDR) model, a new approach which can account for the broad patterns in prior findings, including trends in the data which might seem to be countervailing. We discuss how this model interacts with higher-order cognition and examine its predictions about several aspects of vocal perception and production.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sean Hutchins
- Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Hospital Toronto, ON, Canada
| | | |
Collapse
|