News

APS Fellows – Peter Pfordresher was named a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science in February 2024.

How music and language are connected in your brain – Peter Pfordresher and Chihiro Honda published an article on the DuoLingo blog in December, 2023.

Music can help people learn a second  language, study suggests. – UBNow features our work on pitch imitation.

In June 2022, Peter Pfordresher participated in a panel discussion with opera singer Rene Fleming on the topic of Music and the Mind.

If you think you can’t sing, we have science behind it – Dr. Pfordresher joined Irish news broadcaster Fran Curry on the Tipp Today show to discuss the science behind why people are tone-deaf

The surprising science behind tone deafness – Dr. Pfordresher joined Irish news broadcaster Pat Kenny to discuss the surprising science behind tone-deafness in a newstalk podcast.

BBC World Service – CrowdScience, Can I learn to sing in tune? – Dr Pfordresher discusses why are some people are tone deaf – is it a problem in the ears, the throat or the brain? And is singing ability down to raw talent, or can you improve with practice?

VOCAL MISTUNING AND THE ORIGIN OF MUSICAL SCALES – Science Daily reports on a paper by Peter Pfordresher and Steven Brown that considers a possible link between singing accuracy and spacing of notes in musical scales.

ONLINE SINGING TEST GAUGES ACCURACY OF PITCH – Dr. Pfordrehser was interviewed by NPR station WBFO concerning the Seattle Singing Accuracy Protocol, from a collaboration with Steven Demorest.

BAD SINGER – A popular science book by Tim Falconer discusses research on singing accuracy, including research from APAL.

THE BALLAD OF THE TIN EARS – Dr. Pfordrehser, along with several other researchers, were interviewed by Tim Falconer on the CBC radio show “Ideas: with Paul Kennedy”.

HITTING ALL THE RIGHT NOTES – UB Reporter interviews Dr. Pfordresher on his involvement designing the Seattle Singing Accuracy Protocol, a battery of tests aimed at evaluating one’s own singing accuracy.

DR. PETER PFORDRESHER AND SINGING ACCURACY – A look at how the Seattle Singing Accuracy Protocol could help music educators.

ARTVOICE PODCAST – A podcast interview with Dr. Pfordresher and the lab on our research into poor pitch singing.

TONE DEAFNESS AND BAD SINGING MAY NOT GO HAND IN HAND – Are bad singers truly tone deaf? Scientific American summarizes recent work from our lab.

INVESTIGATING MUSIC AND THE MIND – Meet Dr. Pfordresher and learn about his interest in music psychology.

ZEIT ONLINE – Research on group singing was featured in the German magazine DIE ZEIT. You can read the English translation here.

THE TUNE WRECKERS – Science News features our work on poor pitch singing.