Non-Musicians Experience Early Aging in Speech Perception in Noise Abilities Compared to Musicians

Research has shown that musicians outperform non-musicians in speech perception in noise (SPiN) tasks. However, it remains unclear whether the advantages of musical training are substantial enough to slow down the decline in SPiN performance associated with aging.

Therefore, we assessed SPiN performances in a continuum of age groups comprising musicians and non-musicians. The goal was to compare how the aging process affected SPiN performances of musicians and non-musicians.

A cross-sectional descriptive mixed design was used, involving 150 participants divided into 75 musicians and 75 non-musicians. Each age group (10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, and 50-59) consisted of 15 musicians and 15 non-musicians. Six Kannada sentence lists were combined with four-talker babble. At +5, 0, and -5 dB signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), the percent correct Speech Identification Scores were calculated.

The repeated measure ANOVA (RM ANOVA) revealed significant main effects and interaction effects between SNR, musicianship, and age groups (p < 0.05). A small to large effect size was noted (η_p²= 0.05 to 0.17). A significant interaction effect and follow-up post hoc tests showed that SPiN abilities deteriorated more rapidly with increasing age in non-musicians compared to musicians, especially at difficult SNRs.

Musicians had better SPiN abilities than non-musicians across all age groups. Also, age-related deterioration in SPiN abilities was faster in non-musicians compared to musicians.