Absolute pitch is disrupted by an auditory illusion

Abstract

Absolute pitch (AP) is the rare ability to name a musical note in the absence of a reference note. Here we show that AP possessors sometimes name notes incorrectly in accordance with an auditory illusion. AP possessors were presented with a test tone, which was followed by six intervening tones, and then by a second test tone. The test tones were either identical in pitch or they differed by a semitone. All tones were sine waves.The AP possessors were asked to ignore the intervening tones, and to name both the first and the second test tones after hearing the full sequence. In one condition in which the test tones differed, a tone that was identical in pitch to the second test tone was inserted in the intervening sequence. For example, if the first test tone was D and the second test tone was D#, the note D# was inserted in the intervening sequence. In this condition, the AP possessors showed a significant tendency to misname the first test tone as having the same pitch as the second test tone. This is the first study showing that AP possessors can be induced to misname notes in certain contexts.