Cent (music) - Human Perception

Human Perception

It is difficult to establish how many cents are perceptible to humans; this accuracy varies greatly from person to person. One author stated that humans can distinguish a difference in pitch of about 5-6 cents. The threshold of what is perceptible, technically known as the just noticeable difference, also varies as a function of the timbre of the pitch: in one study, changes in tone quality reduced student musicians' ability to recognize as out-of-tune pitches that deviated from their appropriate values by ±12 cents. It has also been established that increased tonal context enables listeners to judge pitch more accurately. Free, online web sites for self testing are available.

When listening to pitches with vibrato, there is evidence that humans perceive the mean frequency as the center of the pitch. One study of modern performances of Schubert's Ave Maria found that vibrato span typically ranged between ±34 cents and ±123 cents with a mean of ±71 cents and noted higher variation in Verdi's opera arias.

Normal adults are able to recognize pitch differences of as small as 25 cents very reliably. Adults with amusia, however, have trouble recognizing differences of less than 100 cents and sometimes have trouble with these or larger intervals.