title: Turning down the noise: the benefit of musical training on the aging auditory brain.
abstract: Age-related decline in hearing abilities is a ubiquitous part of aging, and commonly impacts speech understanding, especially when there are competing sound sources. While such age effects are partially due to changes within the cochlea, difficulties typically exist beyond measurable hearing loss, suggesting that central brain processes, as opposed to simple peripheral mechanisms (e.g., hearing sensitivity), play a critical role in governing hearing abilities late into life. Current training regimens aimed to improve central auditory processing abilities have experienced limited success in promoting listening benefits. Interestingly, recent studies suggest that in young adults, musical training positively modifies neural mechanisms, providing robust, long-lasting improvements to hearing abilities as well as to non-auditory tasks that engage cognitive control. These results offer the encouraging possibility that musical training might be used to counteract age-related changes in auditory cognition commonly observed in older adults. Here, we reviewed studies that have examined the effects of age and musical experience on auditory cognition with an emphasis on auditory scene analysis. We infer that musical training may offer potential benefits to complex listening and might be utilized as a means to delay or even attenuate declines in auditory perception and cognition that often emerge later in life.
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada. Electronic address: calain@research.baycrest.org.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alain
authors.affiliation: International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada; Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Benjamin Rich
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Zendel
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hutka
authors.affiliation: Institute for Intelligent Systems & School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, USA.
authors.forename: Gavin M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Bidelman
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001306:Auditory Pathways; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition; D004493:Education; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology; D034381:Hearing Loss; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D009622:Noise; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult