Amusia sufferers can't name that tune

If you've seen the horror of the tuneless participants on The X Factor humiliating themselves, the thought that has probably run through your mind is: "can't they hear themselves?" Well, as it turns out, they actually might not be able to. Some of the singers may have a rare condition called amusia, which affects around 4 per cent of the population. Not only can these people not sing, but they actually can't perceive music.

This might sound like a common problem - plenty of people can't sing, after all - but amusic people can't tell the difference between one tune and another. Non-sufferers can hear subtle differences in pitch between two similar notes, but for amusics the difference has to be really large before they notice.

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Watching contestants trying to sing on talent shows can be pretty hilarious, but in fact amusia can be a very difficult condition to live with. Imagine if all music just sounded like unpleasant noise to you. Visiting restaurants, shopping centres and even watching TV could all become very stressful. It's also isolating as most people love music and it plays an important role in many social situations.

Listening to music is usually an enjoyable experience. We all know the feeling of a particular song triggering happy memories, but scientists believe that music stimulates our emotions because it mimics the vocal sounds of particular feelings. For example, if the tune is slow and ends with lower notes, this sounds like the speech patterns of someone sad, and so the music will tend to inspire sadness in the listener. Perhaps this is why we are still able to relate to music from other cultures - the vocal patterns are common to all humans.

It's also thought that we enjoy music because we are subconsciously searching for patterns within it. Once we've identified the patterns, we build up expectations of how the tune will progress, and then are either satisfied when it goes the way we expected, or surprised when it doesn't. But what happens in the brain of someone with amusia?

Despite what you might expect, it seems it's not a problem with hearing - most amusics score normally on hearing tests. Dr Lauren Stewart, a neuroscientist at Goldsmith's College at the University of London, has been studying people who have been amusic their whole lives to try to find out what's going on in their brains. She's specifically interested in whether amusia has anything to do with memory problems, and if it could be a genetic condition. Scientists have found that identical twins - who, as a result, have identical DNA - tend to get similar scores on tests for amusia, which suggests genes may be involved. "Amusia is considered to be a developmental disorder," says Dr Stewart. "The idea is that genetic factors result in abnormal brain development that specifically affect parts of the brain involved in musical perception."

Brain scans on amusics have shown that their brains have small differences in layout from those who can hear music normally. It seems that in amusics, the areas of the brain that process music are not communicating well with each other.

Luckily, amusics can still perceive variations in the tone of speech, or they really would be stuck. Not only would potential contestants on The X Factor not be able to sing, but they wouldn't be able to tell if Simon Cowell was being sarcastic or not. Scientists still aren't sure why amusics appear to have trouble with pitch in music but not in speech, but they do have some ideas. "Pitch changes in speech are often large compared to the pitch changes that amusics cannot detect," Dr Stewart points out.

Whatever the reasons behind this interesting condition, amusics are starting to come out of the amusical closet as the condition is becoming better recognised. And just in case you're amusic yourself, here's a limerick that you can use to explain your condition to anyone who hasn't heard of it:

There once was a man called Green,

Whose musical sense was not keen.

He said: "It is odd

I cannot tell God

Save the Weasel from Pop Goes the Queen."

Nell Barrie is the Brain Awareness Week coordinator

Brain Awareness Week 12-18 March

If you enjoyed this article, you might be interested in attending the Can't Sing, Won't Sing event at the Science Museum's Dana Centre on 13 March. This event is part of Brain Awareness Week, a celebration of brain science that coincides with National Science and Engineering Week. Brain Awareness Week is coordinated by the European Dana Alliance for the Brain, an organisation that promotes brain research. Every year, hundreds of public events are held worldwide to explore the wonders of the brain and neuroscience. Go to www.dana.org/edab/baw/index_en.cfm to find out more, and to discover what's happening in your area.

WEB WATCH

Science Museum

Get your thinking caps on

www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/brain

Musical listening test

Take an online amusia test

www.delosis.com/listening/home.html

Your Amazing Brain

Test your grey matter!

www.youramazingbrain.org

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