ScienceNOW has a brief story about research into tune deafness.  Interestingly, researchers have found that the brains of tune deaf people do detect poorly played tunes and wrong notes, but the individuals are not aware of it:

Can’t stand today’s music? Neither can tune-deaf people. In fact, the disorder makes listening to any music unenjoyable, because the brain can’t organize the sounds into a comprehensible melody. New research indicates that the problem lies somewhere in the conscious mind: The brains of tune-deaf individuals know when a sour note has been played, but the people themselves are unaware of it.

The story provides a link to the Distorted Tunes Test, which you can take and see if you have good pitch or if you’re tune deaf.  It takes a few minutes, but it’s kinda fun.  Apparently I have a good sense of pitch, I scored 23/26.  If you’re interested, take the test here.

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