Musical Training and Its Association With Age-Related Changes in Binaural, Temporal, and Spatial Processing

Abstract

Objective: This article aimed to assess the relationship between musical training and age-related changes in binaural, temporal, and spatial processing abilities. Design: A standard group comparison study was conducted involving both musicians and nonmusicians. The effect of musical training was assessed using a battery of psychoacoustical tests (interaural time and level difference thresholds: ITD & ILD, binaural gap detection threshold, and virtual auditory space identification test) and subjective ratings (Spatial-Hearing subsection of Speech, Spatial, and Quality of Hearing scale in Kannada). Study sample: A total of 60 participants, between 41 and 70 years, were divided into three groups of 20 each, based on their age (41–50, 51–60, and 61–70 years). Each of these three groups was subdivided into two, one comprising 10 musicians (vocalists practicing South-Indian classical music) and the other comprising 10 nonmusicians. Results: Multivariate analyses of variance revealed that musicians performed significantly better ( p < .001) than nonmusicians in all the tests. Analyses of variance showed that whereas age had no effect ( p > .05) on performance in any of the tests in musicians, age affected the performance of nonmusicians significantly in terms of ITD ( p = .02) and ILD ( p = .01) thresholds. Conclusion: Musical training appears to have the potential to slow down age-related decline in binaural, temporal, and spatial processing.