If you scored high in one or more auditory aptitudes, your career examples probably included music performance or positions in the music business. These are obvious ways to incorporate music into your working life.
Many examinees who score high in the auditory aptitudes, however, resist suggestions of focusing on music in their careers for a number of reasons. Music fields are often seen as unstable or financially unrewarding, and working late nights and weekends as a performer can be unappealing. Family attitudes sometimes make it difficult to view artistic careers as respectable pursuits. For adults, especially those in mid-life career changes, the prospect of gaining mastery of a musical instrument or breaking into the competitive music industry may seem intimidating if not impossible.
Alternatives
What are the alternatives? Clients often ask whether they could simply pursue musical hobbies instead. This could be satisfying to some extent, especially if time is directly devoted to music, for instance by dancing, attending concerts, or playing a musical instrument. It can ultimately be frustrating, though, to limit expressions of natural talents to a relatively small number of hours compared to those spent in a typical work week.
Another way to solve this dilemma is to look within non-musical careers for tasks that might call for sensitivity to sound. It is possible that tonal memory could be applied to memorizing other types of sound patterns besides musical melodies, such as phrases in a foreign language or bird calls. Pitch Discrimination may be helpful for discerning nuances in people's voices or refining quality of broadcast production. Rhythm Memory could be helpful in working with public speaking, in which timing is crucial, or in mastering the intonation and accents of a foreign language. Rhythm also seems to be helpful in physical activities such as sports and dance.
With that in mind, we can speculate on some areas that are not directly musical, but could provide chances to express auditory aptitudes:
Foreign languages
This could be as a specialized area of study leading to teaching or interpreting, or as a marketable skill to bring to international business, travel agency work or diplomacy.
Public speaking and performing arts
Both performing and teaching roles in these areas could draw on abilities to memorize lines and judge sound quality and timing. Musical abilities, especially rhythm memory, could be particularly helpful in dance or choreography.
Speech pathology, audiology, and medical diagnosis
In these medical areas, sound aptitudes could be could be crucial in diagnosing and treating disorders of speech and hearing. A validation study of physicians that we conducted shows high scores in rhythm memory, which may aid in diagnoses that involve listening to the sounds of the heart and lungs.
Mechanics
Many of us have encountered "natural mechanics" who seem to be able to sense a problem by listening to a car or other machine.
Natural sciences and outdoor work
Working as a park ranger, ornithologist, or outdoor guide could involve identifying sounds in nature and teaching others to recognize them.
Writing
Writers of plays, television scripts and speeches must be acutely aware of the timing of dialogue, humor, and closing statements. Rhythm memory in particular may aid in creating dialogue that flows easily off the tongue, or advertising slogans that catch the attention of readers or listeners.
Radio and television work
Announcing, producing, sound editing and writing for broadcast could all be places to express awareness of sound.
Computer-related careers
Developments in the computer field could challenge auditory traits in areas such as voice recognition and music and film production.
A number of examinees with auditory traits have casually mentioned being good at memorizing information for sales presentations, remembering lectures, or sensing changes in people's moods from their voices. These abilities can be applied in many work and school settings. In keeping with our philosophy that people are happiest and most satisfied when their work provides outlets for every aptitude, we suggest that people keep looking for ways to incorporate "extra" aptitudes such as music talents into their work.
