Melodic Contour Identification

Music perception and appreciation remains a challenge for many hearing impaired people. A closed-set melodic contour identification “MCI” task has recently been used to quantify the listeners’ ability to recognize musical melodies. For the MCI task, test stimuli are melodic contours composed of 5 notes of equal duration whose frequencies corresponded to musical intervals. The interval between successive notes in each contour is varied between 1-6 semitones; the root note of the contours can also be varied. Nine distinct musical contours are generated for each interval and root note condition. This program provides a unique melodic contour identification testing and training for anyone who is interesting at improving their awareness of melodies, thereby improving their music appreciation.