In Brief:
Eight hundred and sixty-five randomly selected individuals were screened to determine those who scored poorly on the Distorted Tunes Test (DTT). Thirty-five individuals with tune deafness constituted the experimental group. Thirty-four individuals with normal hearing and normal DTT scores, matched for age, gender, handedness, and education, and without overt or reported psychiatric disorders made up the normal control group. Results demonstrate that a wide variety of auditory processing deficits exist in tune deaf individuals. These include pure tone frequency discrimination, pitch and duration pattern discrimination, and temporal resolution. Overall, reduction in performance does not appear to derive from deficits in memory or attention.
