Abstract
Objectives: The objective is to compare musicians and non-musicians in signal-in-noise perception.Design: Participants underwent the following tests: (1) High-frequency (HF) audiometry, (2) QuickSIN (a test for speech perception in noise), and (3) Binaural Masking Level Difference (BMLD) test (a test that examines the hearing threshold of a low-frequency tone from noise masking when the phase of the signal or noise in one ear is reversed with respect to the phase of the signal or noise in the other ear, i.e. the difference in the threshold for detection of the tone in noise under the SπNo and SoNo conditions).Study sample: Thirty-four healthy young normal-hearing listeners including 17 musicians (M) and 17 non-musicians (NM).Results: There were no study group difference in HF audiometry and QuickSIN. The M group had a significantly better performance under the SoNo but not under the SπNo condition. As a result, the BMLD value (SoNo–SπNo) was significantly smaller in the M group than in the NM group.Conclusions: There is a musicians’ advantage in binaural tone-in-noise detection in the BMLD task under the SoNo condition, suggesting that long-term music training positively shapes the auditory system.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all participants for their participation in this research.
F.Z. designed and helped with experiments, analysed data, and wrote the manuscript; D.R. and C.R. performed experiments and data analysis at the University of Cincinnati; S.C. assisted D.R. and C.R. in subject recruitment. S.C. also contributed to manuscript preparation; G.V. and C.L. helped with study design, data collection and analysis, and manuscript preparation. All authors contributed equally to this work. All authors discussed the results and implications and commented on the manuscript at all stages.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.