V. Chaloupka et al., OBSERVATION OF A REVERSIBLE, MEDICATION-INDUCED CHANGE IN PITCH PERCEPTION, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 96(1), 1994, pp. 145-149
This paper reports a study of an absolute pitch possessor who, upon ad
ministration of the psychoactive drug Tegratol (carbamazepine), experi
enced a significant change in her pitch perception. The subject's perf
ormance both in producing, as well as in identifying, random-frequency
tones was measured, covering the period of administration of the drug
, as well as control periods before and after. The main effect of the
drug was a downward shift of the perceived pitch as compared to the tw
o control periods. The magnitude of the shift was observed to increase
with increasing fundamental frequency of the stimulus; the average sh
ift was about one semitone. Detailed results on the frequency dependen
ce and time dependence of the pitch shifts are presented. This may be
the first documented report of a significant, reversible change of pit
ch perception caused by a medication.