ABSTRACT

The present paper provides historical perspectives on the study of infant audition and considers contributions from recent music perception research to our understanding of auditory function. Methodological advances in the 1970s and conceptual advances in the 1980s and 1990s laid the groundwork for contemporary research in infant audition. Despite notable deficiencies in hearing, infants are surprisingly precocious in their perception of complex sound patterns. For example, they are sensitive to the pitch contours and rhythms of speech and musical sequences. Moreover, they show enhanced processing of a number of features that are prominent in musical systems across cultures. These include tones related by small-integer frequency ratios, unequal step sizes in scales, and certain rhythmic patterns. Findings such as these are consistent with a biological basis for some pattern processing skills and for the nature of music itself.