The relationship between pitch discrimination skills and speech prosody decoding skills

Previous research has indicated that a relationship between music lessons and speech prosody skills exists. Speech prosody, like music, uses variations in pitch, tone, and volume to add emotional contents to the communication. Research suggests that musical training transfers its effects into speech prosody skills. Evolutionary theory suggests that pitch discrimination in music and speech adaptively promotes infant and mother bonding. The relationship between pitch discrimination skills used in music training and speech prosody has largely been unexamined. This study examined the hypothesis that no significant differences would be found in the pretest and posttest prosody skills of the treatment group due to pitch discrimination practice. Forty-two music majors received eight weeks pitch discrimination practice and were given a pretest and posttest to assess pitch discrimination and speech prosody decoding abilities. A control group of 39 psychology students were pretested and posttested on their speech prosody skills to control for participant maturation. The Comprehensive Affect Testing System recorded speech prosody skills, and ear testing (commonly used in music programs) was used to assess pitch discrimination. Results of the paired samples t-tests support the hypothesis that pitch discrimination practice transfers to speech prosody decoding skills. From a perspective of social change, the present study provides evidence that such a nontraditional and short-term intervention can improve speech prosody. Increasing prosody accuracy benefits professionals and others who depend upon accurate interpretation of interpersonal communication.