Brainstem Correlates of Speech Perception in Noise: Carnatic Musicians Vs. Non-Musicians

Abstract

Many studies have indicated the presence of superior auditory capabilities as a result of long-term musical experience, including better perception of speech in a background of noise. Musicians have life long experience parsing melodies from background harmonies, which can. be considered a process analogous to speech perception in. noise. To investigate the effect of musical experience on the neural representation of speech-in-noise, the subcortical neuro physiological responses to speech in quiet and noise in a group of highly trained musicians and non musician controls were compared. Musicians were found to have a more robust subcortical representation of the acoustic stimulus in the presence of noise. Specifically, musicians demonstrated earlier latencies and higher amplitudes of onset and transition peaks, higher amplitudes of encoded formants and less degraded response morphology in noise. Neural measures were associated with better behavioral performance on the test of Speech Perception in. Noise (SPIN) for which musicians outperformed the non musician controls. These findings suggest that musical experience limits the negative effects of competing background noise, thereby providing the first biological evidence for musicians' perceptual advantage for speech-in-noise.