On the final day of my Taiwan trip, while waiting in the airport lobby for boarding, I put on my earphones to review demo tracks I was working on, when I noticed something strange happening. For some reason, the music sounded a semitone higher than the actual key.
At first, I thought my smartphone settings had changed, but that wasn’t the case. Music is more than just a hobby for me—it’s part of my life. Especially having perfect pitch, this discomfort was something I couldn’t ignore.
This time, I’m deviating slightly from travel topics to write a report about my experience for those who suddenly develop symptoms of “hearing pitches incorrectly.”
Perfect Pitch and My Relationship with It
Let me clarify something first. While I have perfect pitch, I don’t use the so-called “fixed do” system. There’s a widespread misconception that “perfect pitch = fixed do,” but in my case, I use something closer to “movable do” recognition. That is, while I have the ability to recognize absolute pitch, I perceive intervals as “degrees” within music and understand them relatively as scales and chord tones.
Thanks to this, when faced with this “semitone shift,” I didn’t find myself in the catastrophic situation of being completely unable to play instruments. However, that doesn’t mean there were no problems. For example, if I joined a jam session thinking a song started in A when it was actually A♭, I’d need to search for the right notes at the beginning, disrupting the flow of the performance. As a musician, it’s still a troublesome symptom.
Searching for the Cause
To identify the cause of this symptom, I first researched similar cases online. I discovered that “hearing sounds a semitone lower” is a well-known side effect of certain medications. However, in my case, I was hearing sounds a semitone “higher,” and I wasn’t taking any relevant medications, so there must be a different cause.
Since I’ve also dabbled in acoustical physics beyond just music, I considered it from that perspective as well. A semitone increase means I was experientially feeling as if the wavelength had shortened to the 12th root of 2 (about 0.94 times). From a purely physics standpoint, this should feel like time is progressing about 6% faster.
However, strangely, I felt no discomfort with the flow of time itself. I had previously experienced unstable pitch after intense swimming, but I understood that to be due to temporary fatigue of the inner ear canals. This was clearly a different symptom.
A Brain Issue?
After much consideration, my hypothesis was that this was a problem related to brain recognition rather than auditory organs. Rather than literally hearing sound waves as shorter, I suspect there was a recognition shift where my brain was arbitrarily processing an A note as something resembling a B♭.
I couldn’t determine the exact cause, but possible factors included:
- Extreme jet lag and travel fatigue
- Chronic sleep deprivation
- Excessive drinking and hangovers during travel
- Unfamiliar foods consumed while traveling (stimulant fruits, etc.?)
While I didn’t receive scientifically-based advice from a doctor, so this is purely speculation, I believe it was a symptom that occurred because my brain was in a confused state after a demanding trip.
Gradually Returning to Normal Hearing
This strange symptom continued for several days but gradually subsided without any specific treatment. After one night, what had sounded a semitone high became only slightly high—about a microtonal difference—and by the next day, it had returned almost to normal.
A week later, everything was completely back to normal, and since the symptoms were no longer reproducible, I couldn’t even consult a doctor. It naturally healed without being able to determine the cause. While I had been worried about what would happen if the pitch never returned to normal, the anticlimactic resolution was a relief. However, once something like this happens, you become paranoid about whether your hearing might malfunction again or whether the pitches you’re currently perceiving are incorrect.
Conclusion
Through this experience, I realized how delicate yet adaptable our senses are. As a musician, the anxiety when abnormalities occur in my “ears”—my most important tool—was indescribable, but it also became an opportunity to rediscover the mysteries of the human brain and body.
If anyone is suffering from similar symptoms, it’s likely temporary, so I recommend not worrying too much about it.
However, if symptoms persist for an extended period, consulting a specialist would be wise. Hearing is a precious sense that greatly affects our quality of life.
