Development and validation of a novel tool for assessing pitch discrimination

To develop and validate a tool for pitch discrimination that can be easily applied in otolaryngology clinics.

Twenty healthy subjects performed three psychoacoustic tasks for assessing pitch discrimination thresholds, which were compared among the three tasks. In the pitch direction discrimination (PDirD) task, the subjects judged the pitch of two tones as higher or lower. In the pitch difference discrimination (PDiffD) task, the subjects judged the pitch of two tones as same or different. In the pitch pattern detection (PPD) task, the subjects judged the pattern of a tone complex. Using tone sets from level 0 to level 8, pitch thresholds were determined using the Parameter Estimation by Sequential Testing (PEST) staircase procedure. The tasks were performed without prior training.

Every test was performed twice for each ear, and the better results were adopted as the threshold values. The PDirD thresholds varied considerably among the subjects and showed significantly larger deviations relative to those of the PPD thresholds. The number of below 0 thresholds, which are considered inadequate results, was significantly larger in the PDiffD task. In the PPD task, all thresholds except one were above level 6. The average total time taken to complete the PPD task was 7.7min, which was significantly lesser than that taken to complete the other two tasks.

The results of our study suggest that the PPD task is a reliable and easily available tool for the assessment of pitch discrimination.