Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of musical training on speech-in-noise
(SIN) performance, a complex task requiring the integration of working
memory and stream segregation as well as the detection of time-varying
perceptual cues. Previous research has indicated that, in combination
with lifelong experience with musical stream segregation, musicians
have better auditory perceptual skills and working memory. It was
hypothesized that musicians would benefit from these factors and
perform better on speech perception in noise than age-matched nonmusician
controls. DESIGN: The performance of 16 musicians and 15 nonmusicians
was compared on clinical measures of speech perception in noise-QuickSIN
and Hearing-In-Noise Test (HINT). Working memory capacity and frequency
discrimination were also assessed. All participants had normal hearing
and were between the ages of 19 and 31 yr. To be categorized as a
musician, participants needed to have started musical training before
the age of 7 yr, have 10 or more years of consistent musical experience,
and have practiced more than three times weekly within the 3 yr before
study enrollment. Nonmusicians were categorized by the failure to
meet the musician criteria, along with not having received musical
training within the 7 yr before the study. RESULTS: Musicians outperformed
the nonmusicians on both QuickSIN and HINT, in addition to having
more fine-grained frequency discrimination and better working memory.
Years of consistent musical practice correlated positively with QuickSIN,
working memory, and frequency discrimination but not HINT. The results
also indicate that working memory and frequency discrimination are
more important for QuickSIN than for HINT. CONCLUSIONS: Musical experience
appears to enhance the ability to hear speech in challenging listening
environments. Large group differences were found for QuickSIN, and
the results also suggest that this enhancement is derived in part
from musicians' enhanced working memory and frequency discrimination.
For HINT, in which performance was not linked to frequency discrimination
ability and was only moderately linked to working memory, musicians
still performed significantly better than the nonmusicians. The group
differences for HINT were evident in the most difficult condition
in which the speech and noise were presented from the same location
and not spatially segregated. Understanding which cognitive and psychoacoustic
factors as well as which lifelong experiences contribute to SIN may
lead to more effective remediation programs for clinical populations
for whom SIN poses a particular perceptual challenge. These results
provide further evidence for musical training transferring to nonmusical
domains and highlight the importance of taking musical training into
consideration when evaluating a person's SIN ability in a clinical
setting.
- (psychology),reference
- acoustic
- adult,language,music,musicality,perception,speech
- discrimination,practice
- masking,pitch
- perception,speech
- reception
- spectrography,speech
- stimulation,adult,female,humans,male,memory,music,perceptual
- test,young
- threshold
- thresholds,short-term,sound
- values,sensory
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