Measuring and training pitch discrimination ability in voice improvement

1962 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-47
Author(s):  
Norma Schneiderman Rees
2021 ◽  
pp. 003151252110440
Author(s):  
Ashley G. Flagge ◽  
Lucile Puranen ◽  
Madhuri S. Mulekar

Pitch discrimination ability has been of research interest due to its potential relationship to language and literacy. However, assessment protocols for pitch discrimination have varied widely. Prior studies with both children and adults have produced conflicting performance findings across different pitch discrimination research paradigms, though they have consistently shown that discrimination accuracy is based on the psychophysical assessment method applied. In the present study, we examined pitch discrimination performance among convenience samples of 19 adult women and ten female children across six different adaptive psychophysical measurement conditions. We found pitch discrimination performance in both groups to be impacted by the measurement paradigm such that, while adults exhibited significantly better discrimination thresholds than did children, the pattern of performance across the six conditions was similar for both the adults and the children.


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-240
Author(s):  
Dacian Dorin Dolean

Abstract Previous studies have shown that music can have a positive impact on phonological awareness and on foreign language acquisition. The present research investigates specifically the role of pitch discrimination ability in native and foreign language spelling performance. Two groups of elementary school children were selected based on their pitch discrimination abilities (high and low). Their spelling performance in their native and a foreign (fictional) language was assessed. The results indicate that pitch discrimination ability can be linked to spelling ability in both the native and a foreign language. They also suggest that studying a musical instrument might predict enhanced spelling performance ability


1977 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moya L. Andrews ◽  
Shelley S. Madeira

This study tested the hypothesis that some tasks used in assessing pitch discrimination ability may instead be assessing children’s ability to deal with relational language. Five tasks were given to 36 normal children who were equally divided into three age groups, six to six and one-half years, seven to seven and one-half years, and eight to eight and one-half years of age. Task 1 involved a training procedure to assess the children’s ability to hear the differences in the pitch of two tones, which were an octave apart. A simple motor response was required. Task 2 assessed the children’s ability to label these tones as high or low. Task 3 assessed their ability to compare two tones and label the second as higher or lower than the first. Task 4 examined their ability to label as high or low the position of a man on a ladder. Task 5 examined their ability to compare the positions of two men on two ladders and say whether the second man was higher or lower than the first. Results indicated that children who make pitch discriminations as demonstrated by nearly perfect scores on Task 1 often fail to demonstrate those discriminations on tasks requiring relational language. A comparison of Tasks 2 and 3 to Tasks 4 and 5 suggests that children in the age range studied are less proficient in applying high-low and higher-lower to pitch than to spatial relations.


2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (S1) ◽  
pp. 140-141
Author(s):  
Shizuo Hiki ◽  
Kazuya Imaizumi ◽  
Liming Yang ◽  
Masae Shiroma ◽  
Yumiko Fukuda

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 4314-4324
Author(s):  
Ashley G. Flagge ◽  
Tara Davis ◽  
Victoria S. Henbest

Purpose The Pitch Patterns Test (PPT) and the Duration Patterns Test (DPT) are clinical auditory processing tests that evaluate temporal patterning skills based on pitch (PPT) or duration (DPT) aspects of sound. Although temporal patterning tests are categorized under the temporal processing domain, successful performance on the PPT also relies on accurate pitch discrimination. However, the relationship between pitch discrimination ability and temporal patterning skills has not been thoroughly evaluated. This study examined the contribution of pitch discrimination ability to performance on temporal patterning in children through the use of a pitch discrimination task and the PPT. The DPT was also given as a control measure to assess temporal patterning with no pitch component. Method Thirty-two typically developing elementary school–age children (6;11–11;3 [years;months]) with normal hearing were given a series of three counterbalanced tasks: an adaptive psychophysical pitch discrimination task (difference limen for frequency [DLF]), the PPT, and the DPT. Results Correlational analysis revealed moderate correlations between DLF and PPT scores. After accounting for age, results of a linear regression analysis suggested that pitch discrimination accounts for a significant amount of variance in performance on the PPT. No significant correlation was found between DLF and DPT scores, supporting the hypothesis that the pitch task had no significant temporal patterning component contributing to the overall score. Discussion These findings indicate that pitch discrimination contributes significantly to performance on the PPT, but not the DPT, in a typically developing pediatric population. This is an important clinical consideration in both assessment and utilization of targeted therapy techniques for different clinical populations.


Author(s):  
Johan J. Hanekom ◽  
Robert V. Shannon

The considerable variability in speech perception performance among cochlear implant patients makes it difficult to compare the effectiveness of different speech processing strategies. One result is that optimal individualized processor parameter setting is not always achieved. This paper investigates the relationship between place pitch discrimination ability and speech perception to establish whether pitch ranking could be used as an aid in better patient-specific fitting of processors. Three subjects participated in this study. Place pitch discrimination ability was measured and this information was used to design new channel to electrode allocations for each subject. Several allocations were evaluated with speech tests with consonant, vowel and sentence material. It is shown that there is correlation between the perceptual pitch distance between electrodes and speech perception performance. The results indicate that pitch ranking ability might be used both as an indicator of  the speech perception potential of an implant user and in the choice of better electrode configurations.


2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (sup1) ◽  
pp. 140-141
Author(s):  
Shizuo Hiki ◽  
Kazuya Imaizumi ◽  
Liming Yang ◽  
Masae Shiroma ◽  
Yumiko Fukuda

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