The ear is a sensor, like the eye, and they work like all our senses. They receive stimuli, in this case sound waves, and transform them into messages that our brain interprets based on its experience.
Besides, our perception of sound is limited, our brain does not interpret sounds below or above a certain threshold.
Human hearing is sensitive to a wide spectrum of acoustic frequencies (over 10 octaves), extending from approximately 16 to 20,000 Hz (often indicated as 20 to 20,000) and to a range of sound intensity extended from the minimum threshold limit (by convention, 0 dB), to the maximum acceptable given by pain (and then by rupture of the eardrum, approximately 140 dB).
And since the sound sensation is not proportional to the sound pressure values, their representation has been facilitated with the use of logarithmic growth ratios (dB).
But apart from these, so to speak, somewhat technical considerations, for a musician to possess the perfect (or absolute) pitch is a gift. If you play an instrument, you have certainly tried to identify the chords of a song for endless tests in order to identify its melodic line. Imagine if it had been enough to listen to identify them exactly…
Absolute pitch is an act of cognition, needing memory of the frequency, a label for the frequency (such as “B-flat”), and exposure to the range of sound encompassed by that categorical label.
Musicians such as Mozart (who demonstrated this ability at 7 years old), Beethoven, Toscanini or Glenn Gould were gifted with this blessing, and the list among musicians is long. It’s not a sign of anything, but certainly a nice convenience.
I loved this scene on Amadeus movie, when Mozart dictate to Salieri his Requiem without the help of any tool or instruments, just seeing the music in his mind and singing.
We are not all Mozart, of course, but it is possible to improve our inner ear by doing specific exercises.
Ear training is a music theory field of study where musicians use only their hearing to identify pitches, melodies, chords, intervals, rhythms, and various other basic elements of music. With ear training, you can connect notes and other musical elements just by hearing them.
If it goes badly you will have just wasted some time, but I think that doing some exercise is always good, even if you are not a musician but “only” a music user.
For example, try doing some exercises for free on Teoria site, and remove some rust from your ears.
In my opinion time well used, but that’s just my opinion.
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