When a Recording Revealed a Pitch Problem the Musician Couldn’t Hear
A person may experience a change in performance that others notice first. In a published case, a sound director told a violinist that he was playing flat. The violinist could not hear the discrepancy himself.
What the recording and the timeline added
The report describes the change during treatment with lithium, nortriptyline and oxazepam. It identifies the sound recording as evidence of altered intonation. The violinist later resumed playing after the medications were phased out, and the author reported recovery of pitch perception within a month after discontinuation.
What each observation establishes
A recording can document the pitch produced during a performance. The report did not include hearing tests that could characterize the musician’s perception or explain the change. Because three drugs were withdrawn, the subsequent improvement could not isolate which drug, if any, was responsible. The recording and medication history answer different parts of that question.
Source
de Groot, Case Reports in Otolaryngology (2022). Journal article · Full text.
