Biological impact of music and software-based auditory training.
Auditory-based communication skills are developed at a young age and are maintained throughout our lives. However, some individuals - both young and old - encounter difficulties in achieving or maintaining communication proficiency. Biological signals arising from hearing sounds relate to real-life communication skills such as listening to speech in noisy environments and reading, pointing to an intersection between hearing and cognition. Musical experience, amplification, and software-based training can improve these biological signals. These findings of biological plasticity, in a variety of subject populations, relate to attention and auditory memory, and represent an integrated auditory system influenced by both sensation and cognition.
Department of Communication Sciences, Neurobiology & Physiology, and Otolaryngology, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. nkraus@northwestern.edu
Nina
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Kraus
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D009147:Music Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D010700:Phonetics; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011932:Reading; D012984:Software; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*