Abstract
This study investigated the perception and learning of relative pitch using vibrotactile stimuli by musicians with and without a hearing impairment. Notes from C3 to B4 were presented to the fingertip and forefoot. Pre- and post-training tests in which 420 pairs of notes were presented randomly were carried out without any feedback to participants. After the pre-training test, 16 short training sessions were carried out over six weeks with 72 pairs of notes per session and participants told whether their answers were correct. For amateur and professional musicians with normal hearing and professional musicians with a severe or profound hearing loss, larger pitch intervals were easier to identify correctly than smaller intervals. Musicians with normal hearing had a high success rate for relative pitch discrimination as shown by pre- and post-training tests, and when using the fingertips, there was no significant difference between amateur and professional musicians. After training, median scores on the tests in which stimuli were presented to the fingertip and forefoot were >70% for intervals of 3–12 semitones. Training sessions reduced the variability in the responses of amateur and professional musicians with normal hearing and improved their overall ability. There was no significant difference between the relative pitch discrimination abilities between one and 11 semitones, as shown by the pre-training test, of professional musicians with and without a severe/profound hearing loss. These findings indicate that there is potential for vibration to be used to facilitate group musical performance and music education in schools for the deaf.
Highlights
Considering the potentially confounding effect of auditory feedback alongside the conflicting evidence on what is feasible in terms of frequency discrimination, the current study focuses on unisensory presentation of relative pitch in the vibrotactile domain
The effect of a severe or profound hearing loss on relative pitch discrimination was investigated using only the pre-training test, as it was not possible to make arrangements for the extended period of time needed for training sessions
The percentages of correct scores in the pre- and post-training tests for the musicians with normal hearing are shown in Figure 3 for the fingertip and in Figure 4 for the forefoot
Summary
All participants had experience playing a musical instrument and/or singing in a choir or vocal group at an amateur or professional level. Over the range of frequencies used in the experiments we carried out, no significant differences have been identified between the vibrotactile thresholds on the thenar eminence (Verrillo et al, 1979) of males and females respectively, Gescheider et al (1984) showed that women’s thresholds may be reduced by ≈6 dB at 250 Hz before menstruation. This was not of concern, since our stimuli were presented above the average median thresholds. The effect of a severe or profound hearing loss on relative pitch discrimination was investigated using only the pre-training test, as it was not possible to make arrangements for the extended period of time needed for training sessions
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