NeuroDataRR. Collaborative Research: Testing the relationship between musical training and enhanced neural coding and perception in noise

该项目将确定正式的音乐训练是否与增强的神经处理和声音感知有关，包括在嘈杂背景下的语音。音乐是世界各地数百万人生活的重要组成部分，也是所有已知人类文化所共有的少数共性之一。然而，它的效用和潜在的进化优势仍然是一个谜。这个项目将测试的假设，早期的音乐接触有好处，超越音乐的人类沟通的关键方面，如噪音中的语音感知。此外，研究人员还将测试早期音乐训练是否与衰老对在嘈杂背景下理解语言能力的影响不太严重有关。在噪音中理解言语的能力下降是老年听众的常见抱怨，听力损失已被证明与社会孤立以及更快的认知和健康下降有关。如果正式的音乐训练被证明可以改善晚年的感知和言语交流，那么结果可能会对生活质量产生潜在的重大影响，早期的研究表明早期音乐训练与改善听觉神经处理和感知之间的关系，但研究的影响受到样本数量少和不同研究之间不一致的方法的限制。该项目将在6个不同的研究中心采用统一的招募标准和测试方案对大量参与者（N=360）进行测试。测量将包括对语音的神经频率跟随响应（FFR）、行为频率选择性、噪声中的语音感知、竞争谈话者背景下的语音感知、音高辨别和听觉掩蔽。参与者还将完成其他评估，包括个性问卷调查，音乐感知技能简介，评估一般认知能力的空间推理测试，以及确定社会经济地位，教育和音乐背景的背景问卷。参与者将被选中跨越广泛的年龄和音乐经验。神经数据和言语感知测量将与音乐训练的因素相关，例如音乐训练的年数和音乐训练开始的年龄。通过预先注册研究和分析，并通过专门的网站公开数据和分析代码，确保科学严谨性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will determine whether formal musical training is associated with enhanced neural processing and perception of sounds, including speech in noisy backgrounds. Music forms an important part of the lives of millions of people around the world, and it is one of the few universals shared by all known human cultures. Yet its utility and potential evolutionary advantages remain a mystery. This project will test the hypothesis that early musical exposure has benefits that extend beyond music to critical aspects of human communication, such as speech perception in noise. In addition, the investigators will test whether early musical training is associated with less severe effects of aging on the ability to understand speech in noisy backgrounds. Degraded ability to understand speech in noise is a common complaint among older listeners and hearing loss has been shown to be associated with social isolation and more rapid cognitive and health declines. If formal musical training is shown to affect improved perception and speech communication in later life, the outcomes could have a potentially major impact on quality of life,Earlier studies have suggested relationships between early musical training and improved auditory neural processing and perception, but the studies' impact has been limited by small sample numbers and inconsistent methods between different studies. This project will test a large number of participants (N=360) with uniform recruitment criteria and testing protocols across six different sites. Measures will include the neural frequency following response (FFR) to speech sounds, behavioral frequency selectivity, speech perception in noise, speech perception against a background of competing talkers, pitch discrimination, and auditory masking. The participants will also complete other assessments, including a personality inventory questionnaire, a profile of musical perception skills, a spatial reasoning test to assess general cognitive ability, as well as a background questionnaire to determine socio-economic status, education, and musical background. Participants will be selected to span a wide range of ages and musical experience. The neural data and the speech perception measures will be related to factors of musical training, such as the number of years of musical training and the age at which musical training began. Scientific rigor will be assured by preregistering the study and the analyses and by making the data and analysis code publicly available via a dedicated website.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.