Do People Who Are Tone Deaf Hear Music Differently
—Jonathan Klein, Chicago, Illinois Very much so. About 5 percent of the population is “tone deaf,” which means they cannot accurately detect differences in pitch (how high or low a note is). These people are unlikely to enjoy music with melodies (the string of single notes that you may hum) or harmonies (two or more notes played at the same time): It won’t make sense to them. But just because you can’t sing doesn’t mean you’re tone deaf....