title: The relationship between vocal pitch-matching skills and pitch discrimination skills in untrained accurate and inaccurate singers.
abstract: Few studies have compared the relationship between pitch discrimination accuracy and the accuracy of fundamental frequency (F(o)) control. This study investigated the relationship between vocal pitch-matching skills, which is one method of testing F(o) control, and pitch discrimination skills in untrained accurate and inaccurate singers, and the effect of timbre on their pitch discrimination accuracy. Data showed that accurate singers had more precise discrimination and pitch-matching abilities compared with their inaccurate counterparts. Pitch discrimination was differentially affected by the timbre (eg, spectral differences) of comparison tones. In addition, results showed a significant relationship between pitch discrimination abilities and pitch-matching accuracy. The results suggest that accurate F(o) control is at least partially dependent on pitch discrimination abilities, which are important for accurate singing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, James Madison University, MSC 4304, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA. cwatts@usouthal.edu
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Kacia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McCaghren
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009146:Music; D010897:Pitch Discrimination / Q000502:physiology*; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D014831:Voice; D014833:Voice Quality