Why do blind people and musicians hear pitch better? New research suggests they have less internal noise
People who have lived most of their lives blind often have extraordinary hearing abilities. In new research published in the Journal of Neuroscience, my colleagues and I discovered that this ability arises from how their auditory systems are able to more consistently and reliably process sounds compared with people who aren't blind. And interestingly, sighted musicians seem to enhance their…
Research published in the Journal of Neuroscience reveals that individuals who have been blind since birth and musicians may possess superior pitch perception due to reduced internal noise in their auditory systems. This discovery was made by comparing the hearing abilities of nine blind individuals and 18 sighted musicians with varying levels of musical experience.
Participants engaged in two tasks: detecting a tone amidst background noise to evaluate cochlear frequency processing, and judging which of two tones had a higher pitch, indicating the brain's interpretation of sound information. The study found that blind individuals excelled in pitch discrimination but not in tone detection in noise, whereas musicians showed enhanced pitch discrimination without a difference in tone detection.
Mathematical modeling showed that the improved pitch discrimination in both groups resulted from reduced internal noise, meaning more consistent and reliable sound processing rather than increased frequency selectivity. Additionally, musicians demonstrated similar reductions in internal noise, suggesting that musical training can also improve auditory processing.
The findings indicate that sensory experiences, such as being blind or being a musician, can help create and refine the brain's perceptual template for hearing, potentially enabling targeted training to improve perceptual abilities in individuals experiencing sensory loss. However, the extent and nature of this brain plasticity, particularly in adulthood, remain areas for further investigation.
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