Did you know that there is a cause for tone deafness?

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Dustbug10

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http://www.dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=23732

"Tone deaf" people may lack a major nerve pathway linking brain regions for sound-perception and sound-production. Using a special imaging method that maps connections within the brain, researchers at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston found evidence that nearly all the tone-deaf people they studied were missing a nerve-fiber bundle known as the superior branch of the arcuate fasciculus in the right cerebral hemisphere of their brains.


"In the past, we knew that a connection disorder in the arcuate fasciculus led to language difficulties. Now that we know that tone-deafness affects similar branches of connectivity, we might start thinking about tone-deafness as a previously undiscovered connection disorder," says Psyche Loui, the researcher who was first author on the study.
It is comforting to know that I sing horribly for a reason. It is disappointing because I now know that I never be able to bring the place down on karaoke night. :mad:

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that's really interesting. do you have a reference or link?
 
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I did know that, thanks to PBS!

It's kind of like color-blindness in that there are differing degrees of tone deafness.

There are people who have "true tone deafness" and they have difficulty differentiating between adjacent notes somewhat like cochlear implant recipients. These people find music excruciating to listen to.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/musicminds/
Unfortunately, this program is not on PBS Online or Netflix, but it's definitely worth buying if you're interested in how music affects the brain.

You can also listen to the NPR piece from All Things Considered.
http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/jan/tonedeaf/020116.tonedeaf.html
 
I did know that, thanks to PBS!

It's kind of like color-blindness in that there are differing degrees of tone deafness.

There are people who have "true tone deafness" and they have difficulty differentiating between adjacent notes somewhat like cochlear implant recipients. These people find music excruciating to listen to.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/musicminds/
Unfortunately, this program is not on PBS Online or Netflix, but it's definitely worth buying if you're interested in how music affects the brain.

You can also listen to the NPR piece from All Things Considered.
http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/jan/tonedeaf/020116.tonedeaf.html
Awesome, thanks for posting.
 
I saw that story. Savants are incredible people, Derek in particular. Do you know much about binaural beats? Not that I have looked into hypnosis or anything. :D

I only have cursory knowledge of binaural beats.
 
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