What is Amusia?

The condition known as amusia has been getting a lot of buzz in certain scientific circles, but what is this condition?

Amusia, commonly known as "tone-deafness," is a disability that affects one's ability to process music normally, despite otherwise normality in language, memory, and intelligence. When most people hear the term "tone-deafness" they immediately think it means the inability to sing well. It is important to remember that amusia is an internal problem with pitch perception, not vocal ability.

Many researchers group amusia with learning disabilities, as it severely hinders musical ability. Amusic individuals show difficulty in recognizing common tunes and generally lack the ability to differentiate between similar musical sequences. Amusia is said to affect 4% of the population in the UK and 5% in the United States. Amusia is thought to be primarily congenital (present at birth) in nature, but has been known to occur later in life as the result of injury or trauma.

The most current view on amusia is that it stems from difficulties in fine grain pitch perception, which differs significantly from the more traditional view that amusia stems from the failure to understand and appreciate music. This difficulty in perceiving differences in pitch mostly comes into play with music. Amusic individuals can still perceive changes in pitch when someone is speaking or singing. This is due to the fact that the differences in pitch in music are much smaller than in a normal speaking voice. Therefore an amusic person doesn't hear others speaking in monotone, as is sometimes believed.

What does all of this mean for amusic individuals? Well, music that is more complex than a simple tune is often described as sounding like irritating noise. Many amusic people will avoid classical music of any kind as they find it to be rather annoying, generally stating that it sounds as if everyone is playing a different song all at once. Instead of the pleasant feelings that most people experience when listening to music, those with amusia report feeling stressed.

It is difficult for many to understand this condition, as music plays a large part in the everyday emotional lives of most people. Often amusic individuals will feel embarrassed by their condition, especially if they are unaware that they have it. In past years those with amusia were considered to be uncultured for not recognizing famous pieces of music and unskilled for not being able to master musical instruments.

Imagine not being able to distinguish Beethoven's "9^th Symphony" from "La Marseillaise" and you'll get a good idea of what it is like to be amusic.

Sources
Nell Barrie. Amusia sufferers can't name that tune. The Independent

Katie M. Douglas & David K. Bilkey. Amusia is associated with deficits in spatial processing. Nature Neuroscience.