Pitch discrimination in the early blind

Gougoux, Frédéric; Lepore, Franco; Lassonde, Maryse; Voss, Patrice; Zatorre, Robert J.; Belin, Pascal

doi:10.1038/430309a

Cited by 422Tactile and Sensory InteractionsNeuroscience and Music PerceptionMultisensory perception and integration

Pitch discrimination in the early blind

Gougoux, Frédéric, Lepore, Franco, Lassonde, Maryse, Voss, Patrice, Zatorre, Robert J., Belin, Pascal·2004·Nature

DOI 10.1038/430309a

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Abstract

Do blind people develop superior abilities in auditory perception to compensate for their lack of vision? They are known to be better than sighted people at orientating themselves by sound, but it is not clear whether this enhanced awareness extends to other auditory domains, such as listening to music or to voices. Here we show that blind people are better than sighted controls at judging the direction of pitch change between sounds, even when the speed of change is ten times faster than that perceived by the controls--but only if they became blind at an early age. The younger the onset of blindness, the better is the performance, which is in line with cerebral plasticity being optimal during the early years.

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Loss of one perceptual channel can be compensated for by higher resolution activity in another.
“Such evidence suggests that the loss of one perceptual channel can be compensated for by higher resolution activity in another (Gougoux et al., 2004; Stevens & Weaver, 2009).”
From Designing sensory-substitution devices: Principles, pitfalls and potential1 (2016) · cites this paper as Gougoux et al., 2004
Early blind outperform the sighted in pitch discrimination.
“On the other hand, the early blind outperform the sighted in pitch discrimination (Gougoux et al., 2004) and also show better temporal resolution for auditory stimuli (Muchnick et al., 1991; Stevens & Weaver, 2009).”
From Designing sensory-substitution devices: Principles, pitfalls and potential1 (2016) · cites this paper as Gougoux et al., 2004

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And the Blind Shall Hear: Improved Pitch Discrimination in the Early Blind
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Enhanced pitch perception in early blind individuals and musicians is due to reduced internal noisePreprint
Park, W. J., Awad, J. F., & Fine, I. (2025) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2025.11.25.690447

Authors: Gougoux, F., Lepore, F., Lassonde, M., Voss, P., Zatorre, R. J., & Belin, P.
Affiliations: Université de Montréal (CA)
Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (CA)
Corresponding author: Belin, Pascal
ORCID: Voss, Patrice
Zatorre, Robert J.
Belin, Pascal
Venue: Nature
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2004-07-15
Volume: 430
Issue: 6997
Pages: 309-309
ISSN: 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
1476-4687
DOI: 10.1038/430309a
OpenAlex: W1977007664
Cited by: 422
References: 6
Citations by year: 2026: 8 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 24
FWCI: 7.71
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/text-and-data-mining (tdm)
www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/text-and-data-mining (vor)
Locations: Nature (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
Keywords: pitch discrimination, early blindness, auditory perception, neuroplasticity, music perception, voice perception
MeSH terms: Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Aging, Blindness, Child, Preschool, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Neuronal Plasticity, Pitch Perception, Age of Onset

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