Musical Illusions and Phantom Words: How Music and Speech Unlock Mysteries of the Brain

by Diana Deutsch

In this ground-breaking synthesis of art and science, Diana Deutsch, one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of music, shows how illusions of music and speech--many of which she herself discovered--have fundamentally altered thinking about the brain. These astonishing illusions show that people can differ strikingly in how they hear musical patterns--differences that reflect variations in brain organization as well as influences of language on music perception. Drawing on a wide variety of fields, including psychology, music theory, linguistics, and neuroscience, Deutsch examines questions such When an orchestra performs a symphony, what is the "real" music? Is it in the mind of the composer, or the conductor, or different members of the audience? Deutsch also explores extremes of musical ability, and other surprising responses to music and speech. Why is perfect pitch so rare? Why do some people hallucinate music or speech? Why do we hear phantom words and phrases? Why are we subject to stuck tunes, or "earworms"? Why do we hear a spoken phrase as sung just because it is presented repeatedly? In evaluating these questions, she also shows how music and speech are intertwined, and argues that they stem from an early form of communication that had elements of both. Many of the illusions described in the book are so striking and paradoxical that you need to hear them to believe them. The book enables you to listen to the sounds that are described while reading about them.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published June 13, 2019

Reviews

[Ramesh VK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the book which carefully chronicles illusions in musical perception and what that implies about our mental processes. I was amazed by the creativity involved in constructing these illusions.

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting work clearly expaining her research and findings. The demonstrations of the various phenomena were captivating. There was quite a lot of review of literature on the topic presented in a short readable form. The one objection I had was to the conclusions being drawn regarding brain functioning. Experiments that showed different aspects of experiencing sound led to the conclusion that there were brain modules for each function and a controller module. This goes against a lot of current neurological models of how the brain actually works. Deutsch seems to assume a cartesian theater which has been pretty thoroughly dismissed in consciouness research.

[Tero Parviainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nature of our auditory system illuminated through its glitches, illusions, and hallucinations. Much, if not all of it lines up really well with top-down / generative accounts of perceptual processing. Very satisfying.

[Andrew Bahle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would pay very good money to see Dr Duetsch perform her speech to song illusion live.