Science Explains | What is the reason for singing out of tune? Can it be cured?

Singing is really a very popular form of entertainment.

I wonder if there is that kind of person around you, who can make people forget the original singer's song as soon as they start singing, and can even drive people away.

The key is that you don't know you are out of tune, commonly known as "tone-deaf". It sounds so bad but you are so confident... So what is the reason for singing out of tune? Let's find out together.

Is singing out of tune a disease?

There may also be obstacles to the perception of music, which is medically known as "amosity".

"Amusia" is an abnormal manifestation of inaccurate grasp of pitch and musical defect, often accompanied by problems with music memory and recognition.

Statistics show that 10% of people are born tone-deaf and sing out of tune, and 4% of them are born with insensitivity to fine pitch recognition. Professor Bill Thompson of Macquarie University in Australia has done a lot of research on "Amusia", and the results show that "Amusia" patients have four main manifestations:

1. Hearing, intelligence and memory are normal, but lack musical perception ;

2. Misjudging the singing voice and not knowing that one is out of tune;

3. Polarized response to rhythm;

4. Most patients are confused by music, and a few feel extremely uncomfortable.

In addition, patients with amusia may also have communication barriers, such as being unable to discern the true emotions of the person they are talking to and being unable to understand the "hidden meaning" of the other person's tone of voice.

Why does amusia occur?

After scanning the brains of amusics, some scholars found that about 50% of amusics have rhythm recognition disorders . The right hemisphere of the human brain is responsible for music, rhythm, imagination, color, etc. Many factors, including abnormal genetic factors, can lead to music perception disorders.

Studies have also shown that amusia is also related to the left cerebral hemisphere: when the anterior left temporal lobe is damaged, the patient's ability to recognize notes, sing and play, and even appreciate music may be partially or completely lost, which manifests as a car accident scene where "other people sing for money but I sing to my life."

Isabella Perlitz of the University of Montreal in Canada has been studying amusia for many years. She found that compared with normal people, the right frontotemporal connection network between the inferior frontal gyrus and the superior temporal gyrus of the auditory cortex was abnormal in the amusic-blind people, the connection between the inferior temporal gyrus and the auditory cortex was reduced, and the right arcuate fiber bundle connecting the auditory cortex and the frontal cortex was also reduced.

Abnormalities in specific neural networks in the brains of people with tone-blindness

In addition, they asked volunteers to listen to the same melody and observed their brain structure with the help of neuroimaging technology. They finally found that the auditory cortex is not the area that determines the ability to perceive pitch. They speculated that the positive and negative feedback loop between the inferior frontal gyrus and the superior temporal gyrus affects the transmission of pitch information - but the brains of tone-blind people find it difficult to form such feedback and therefore cannot grasp the pitch.

The most fundamental way to explore the genes of musical talent and prove the biological attributes of music is to provide genetic evidence.

How to treat amusia?

Generally, people with "tone deafness" can sing beautifully with professional practice, but patients with acquired amusia need early diagnosis and treatment .

People with pseudo-amusia can restore normal musicality after improving external factors.

As for patients with congenital amusia, after excluding organic diseases, just let nature take its course.

After all, the incidence of amusia among humans is as high as 4%. That is to say, apart from "tone-deafness" caused by various reasons, four out of every hundred people are never in tune. We are not fighting alone.

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