Every advantage has its disadvantage: Pitch perception of tone language speakers is better at low frequencies but poorer at high frequencies

Abstract

Tone language experience has been associated with more accurate and stronger phase locking of neural responses in the brainstem to auditory stimuli. However, whether this neurophysiological advantage translates to better pitch perception remains under debate. Previous studies have yielded controversial results, possibly due to variations in methods and large individual variability. Here we examined tone frequency discrimination (FD) over the frequency range of 250 Hz to 8 kHz in Chinese and English speakers using relatively large sample sizes (N>50). For both brief (7.5-ms) and steady (100-ms) tones, FD threshold showed an interaction between group and frequency: Chinese speakers outperformed English speakers up to 4 kHz, and the advantage was reversed at higher frequencies. The only exception was the 7.5-ms 250-Hz condition, where the stimuli were too short (< 2 cycles) for pitch extraction by phase locking and performance was worse in Chinese than English speakers. Overall, the pattern of FD differences between Chinese and English speakers indicates that tone language experience enhances temporal coding of pitch at the cost of place coding.