Perfect Pitch

Here’s an encouraging finding for Zoomers who would like to develop musical talent later in life. A study from the University of Chicago finds that adults can be trained to achieve perfect pitch and maintain it for months.

Perfect pitch is the ability to identify a note simply by hearing it hLess than one in 10,000 people have this gift. The conventional wisdom was that it is only possible for those who had early musical training in childhood, and that adults could not acquire the skill.

This study challenges that belief. It included university students, staff and community members with various levels of musical experience. None had perfect pitch.

The participants were trained to develop perfect pitch by learning to identify notes played on various musical instruments. When tested months later, their ability was only slightly diminished.

The study was published in the journal Cognition.