Speech-to-song illusion

The phrase ‘sometimes behave so strangely’ as it appears to be sung after several repetitions

The speech-to-song illusion is an auditory illusion discovered by Diana Deutsch in 1995. A spoken phrase is repeated several times, without altering it in any way, and without providing any context. This repetition causes the phrase to transform perceptually from speech into song.[1][2] Though mostly notable with languages that are non-tone, like English and German, it is possible to happen with tone languages, like Thai and Mandarin.[3][4]

  1. ^ Diana Deutsch (1995). Musical Illusions and Paradoxes, Track 1 (CD). La Jolla: Philomel Records. 1377600012.
  2. ^ Diana Deutsch (2003). Phantom Words and Other Curiosities, Tracks 21-26 (CD). La Jolla: Philomel Records. 1377600022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jaisin2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Margulis2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).