Ability for pitch discrimination and melody discrimination by individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing

Abstract

　　The present study was aimed at examining the music recognition ability of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Eight adolescents who were deaf or hard of hearing were given tasks of pitch discrimination and six-tone melody discrimination, with controlled tonality in the presented pieces. In the pitch discrimination task, 6 people who were deaf or hard of hearing showed a similar accuracy to people with normal hearing, while 2 had difficulty with the task. The hearing threshold level and music experience affected the accuracy of pitch discrimination. Six people who showed high accuracy in the pitch discrimination task also participated in the melody discrimination task. However, only 2 people showed higher accuracy than the chance level. Moreover, one of the subjects whose hearing threshold level at 250 Hz was relatively good showed a higher accuracy for tonal than for atonal melodies. These results suggest that people who are deaf or hard of hearing have difficulty in melody recognition, not to mention comprehension of tonality, if they are able to discriminate pitch patterns accurately. Hearing threshold levels in the low-frequency range might have an effect on melody recognition in people who are deaf or hard of hearing.