Noise is ubiquitous in our lives: the whir of a computer, the chatter of a busy classroom, the din of a noisy restaurant. Children, older adults, and the hearing impaired are especially vulnerable to the disruption that background noise has on listening and learning. The degree to which noise affects the ability to understand spoken words differs from individual to individual. Why? One theory is that musical experience may be a key to success in overcoming noisy environments. In this project, brain responses will be measured using sensitive recording electrodes while participants listen to speech embedded in background noise. The degree to which the brain is able to ?pull? the speech out of the noise will be discernable in the brainwaves. This ability will be examined with respect to the amount of musical training that each participant has had in the course of their lives. The brainwave results will be complemented with thorough listening-in-noise testing. As such, this study stands at the crossroads of two previously nonintersecting lines of research: musical experience?s effect on the nervous system and the effects of noise on the neural processing and perception of speech.
The proposed project will provide a better understanding of the role of music training on the sensory processes that are necessary for successful communication and learning. Understanding how the ?normal? auditory system is impacted by musical training will provide a baseline for future studies addressing music?s role in disabled populations, such as hearing- and reading-impaired individuals. Hearing words accurately and forming associations between sounds and letters are keys to learning to read. If it turns out that musicianship affects the ability to hear words accurately, there would be profound ramifications for advocating music education in public schools. At the other end of the age spectrum, music may prove to be a check for the well-known speech-in-noise perception decline in older adults. Finally, the proposed work will provide diverse scientific training opportunities in human perception and neurophysiology for graduate, undergraduate and area high school students.
