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KomoDyesterday at 6:03 PM4 repliesview on HN

> Young children can acquire absolute (perfect) pitch — but adults cannot. The window closes around age 6.

I found some papers suggesting it is possible for adults, but more difficult.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31550277/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31686378/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/388931575_Learning_...


Replies

toolsliveyesterday at 11:43 PM

You will probably claim it's not "real" perfect pitch, but many people use their tinnitus to help them. They identified their ring as having, for example, F#, and suddenly their relative pitch became absolute.

show 1 reply
sudbtoday at 1:04 PM

There was an interesting study that I attempted to enroll in (but unfortunately was screened out by both age and childhood instrument learning) that was looking at psilocybin potentially giving adults the ability to acquire perfect pitch:

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/psilocybin-research-pitch-stu...

sudo_cowsaytoday at 12:24 AM

It’s not “real” perfect pitch. It’s more like training and memorizing. It doesn’t come as naturally as it does for kids.

nosioptartoday at 2:54 PM

Yeah, the stuff on the repo is bullshit because it's ai slop.

I learned perfect pitch well after six. I know others who have too.