Perception and learning of relative pitch by musicians using the vibrotactile mode



Hopkins, Carl ORCID: 0000-0002-9716-0793, Mate-Cid, Saul, Fulford, Robert, Seiffert, Gary ORCID: 0000-0003-0268-7056 and Ginsborg, Jane
(2023) Perception and learning of relative pitch by musicians using the vibrotactile mode. MUSICAE SCIENTIAE, 27 (1). pp. 3-26.

Access the full-text of this item by clicking on the Open Access link.

Abstract

<jats:p> 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 &gt;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. </jats:p>

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: relative pitch, vibration, vibrotactile, deaf, musicians
Divisions: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of the Arts
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 04 Jun 2021 14:16
Last Modified: 08 Mar 2023 06:28
DOI: 10.1177/10298649211015278
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649211015278
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3125101