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A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown that musical training helps people hear speech聽syllables in loud environments, and has shown how this happens. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers Yi Du and Robert Zatorre monitored brain function as musicians and non-musicians listened to speech fragments and varying background聽noise levels.

They found musicians could distinguish speech sounds聽better, because of better encoding in both auditory and speech motor regions. Musicians showed聽stronger cross-modal auditory鈥搈otor integration than non-musicians when processing speech, especially in noisy conditions. Therefore the musical advantage stems both from better auditory processing of the speech signal, as well as better representation of the motor aspect of speech.聽

This finding聽has clinical implications because problems hearing speech in noisy environments are characteristic of the elderly, and children聽with certain learning disabilities.

鈥淢usical training sharpens and bonds ears and tongue to hear speech better鈥� Yi Du, Robert Zatorre.聽

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1712223114