Music training may delay age-related hearing decline by a decade

A study comparing musicians with non-musicians across different age groups in India found that the ability to perceive speech in a noisy environment is lower in older participants, indicating that it declines with age. However, these differences between groups of different ages were more pronounced in non-musicians, indicating that age-related cognitive decline in this ability might be slower in musicians. The research was published in the Journal of Otology.

Age-related hearing loss, also called presbycusis, is a gradual decline in the ability to hear high-frequency sounds as people get older. It typically results from cumulative damage to the delicate hair cells in the inner ear that are responsible for converting sound waves into neural signals. Genetic predisposition, lifetime noise exposure, cardiovascular health, and metabolic conditions such as diabetes all influence how quickly it develops.

The decline often begins subtly, making it harder to understand speech in noisy environments or to distinguish similar consonants. Over time, people may feel that others are mumbling, need to increase the volume on devices, or struggle with group conversations. Because the change is slow, many individuals do not recognize the extent of their hearing loss until it becomes functionally limiting.

Study authors Kruthika S. and Ajith Kumar Uppunda wanted to explore how the ability to perceive speech in a noisy environment—i.e., speech perception in noise (SPiN) abilities—changes with age. They noted that musicians with lifelong musical training often exhibit a noticeable advantage in comprehending speech in noise.

However, prior research has been inconsistent; while some studies show clear benefits, others (such as a 2014 study by Ruggles et al.) found no differences when comparing young musicians to non-musicians. With this in mind, the study authors set out to explore how musicians and non-musicians of different ages differ in their speech perception in noise abilities.

Study participants were 75 musicians and 75 non-musicians. They were divided into five age groups: 10–19 years, 20–29 years, 30–39 years, 40–49 years, and 50–59 years, with each age group consisting of 15 musicians and 15 non-musicians.

First, study participants were screened to ensure they had normal hearing thresholds and outer hair cell function, ruling out standard clinical hearing loss. After that, they underwent an assessment of speech perception in noise using the Kannada Sentence Identification Test.

Results showed no differences between musicians and non-musicians in their basic abilities to hear tones or in the functioning of the cochlea’s outer hair cells. However, musicians performed better than non-musicians on the speech-in-noise tasks across all age groups. As expected, the ability to perceive speech in noise was lower in older participants, but this decline was faster in non-musicians than in musicians. Non-musicians began to show significant deterioration in the 40–49 age range, while musicians maintained their performance levels until the 50–59 age range.

“Music training can significantly delay or lessen the degenerative consequences of the aging process on SPiN [speech perception in noise]. Furthermore, the current study found that music training increases SPiN capacities in people of different ages. Thus, musical activities, if incorporated into a comprehensive rehabilitation strategy in aging individuals, may promote healthy aging,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of age-related changes in auditory processing. However, it should be noted that this was not a longitudinal study, but a study examining individuals of different ages at the same time. Because of this, it is not possible to know for sure whether the observed effects are truly effects of aging or differences between generations of people.

The paper, “Non-Musicians Experience Early Aging in Speech Perception in Noise Abilities Compared to Musicians,” was authored by Kruthika S. and Ajith Kumar Uppunda.