The DOI matches its Crossref record; 6 of the 6 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Pitch discrimination in the early blind
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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“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
In the citing paper
“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
Citations
Cites
Spectral and Temporal Processing in Human Auditory Cortex
Zatorre, R. J. (2001) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/11.10.946 · Cited by 1,279
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Early-blind human subjects localize sound sources better than sighted subjects
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Functional specificity in the right human auditory cortex for perceiving pitch direction
Johnsrude, I. S., Penhune, V. B., & Zatorre, R. J. (2000) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/123.1.155 · Cited by 406
Central Auditory Skills in Blind and Sighted Subjects
Muchnik, C., Efrati, M., Nemeth, E. D., Malin, M., & Hildesheimer, M. (1991) · Scandinavian Audiology · doi:10.3109/01050399109070785 · Cited by 235
The Measurement of Auditory Abilities of Blind, Partially Sighted, and Sighted Children
Stankov, L., & Spilsbury, G. (1978) · Applied Psychological Measurement · doi:10.1177/014662167800200403 · Cited by 35
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- Pitman, D. J. Am. Found. Blind. Res. Bull. 11, 63–79 (1965).
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Metadata
- 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
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2004-07-15
- Volume
- 430
- Issue
- 6997
- Pages
- 309-309
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- 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
- 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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