New research has shown how genetics and neural signals lead to people not having a musical bone in their body. 

Music has existed for at least 40,000 years as a way for people to express their feelings and connect with others. 

Prof Luke O’Neill told Show Me the Science our love of music could be because of evolutionary mating processes, our subconscious memories of mothers soothing with songs as babies, or just because at one point in history people realised they could shout at each in different tones and pitches. 

What has only been discovered recently, however, is why some people have more musical talent than others. 

“It turns out that 4% of us are classified as having congenital amusia, which means we're tone deaf,” Prof O’Neill. 

“There seems to be a genetic basis for this trait. 

“This study examined families – as many as 71 members across nine families – and another group there were 75 members of another set of families. 

“They rated them all in terms of how many people were tone deaf, in each family and how many weren’t. 

“This study has shown definitely runs in families - there are families who are basically ‘amusical’.” 

Man singing using a wooden spoon as a pretend microphone. Image: Pexels

The study also took environmental factors into account by exposing certain subjects to more music – although they still remained tone deaf if it ran in the family. 

“The environmental part is there, but there's also a strong genetic part,” Prof O’Neill said. 

Addressing what could cause people to get congenital amusia, Prof O’Neill noted there is quite literally a gap in the brain that blocks musical ability. 

“In the people are tone deaf, there's a poor connection between what's called the inferior frontal cortex and the auditory cortex,” he said. 

“The auditory cortex is where your auditory nerve goes in, and then connects to your brain so you can hear things, take notes and so on. 

“That can connect into this inferior frontal cortex and that connection was less effective in people who were tone deaf.” 

While there is no definitive reason for this lack of connection, Prof O’Neill said all existing evidence points to genetic coding and a lack of certain proteins that would link these parts of the brain. 

Musical ability

Conversely, another study found those with enhanced musical ability are missing a different gene themselves. 

“It’s called the protocadherin-alpha cluster,” he said. “There's a mouthful for you - try and sing that. 

“In the protocadherin-alpha cluster, there’s a piece missing, and it turns out if you're missing that piece that would govern your musical ability.” 

If you want to hear more about music from Prof O’Neill, but with less science, you can tune into Dublin City FM every Wednesday from 8pm to 10pm.