Musicians Develop Better Hearing

Musicians Develop Better Hearing a current study published in the journal Ear and Hearing found that those who are trained and practiced musicians are better in a position to distinguish the words of a conversation in the middle of a noisy room. If this idea could be generalized, it will have important practical implications for those who are hard of hearing and children along with learning disabilities. Test out the hypothesis on your own.

Materials:
An audio recorder and player
The noisy environment
2 volunteers to record the conversation
20 or more musician test topics
20 or more non-musician test subjects
Document and pencil for recording and analyzing outcomes

Experimental Procedure

With your recording equipment navigate to the noisy environment and record your two volunteers using a conversation amidst the noise. The recorded conversation ought to be very difficult but not impossible to listen to.
Note the length and type of music experience your musician test subjects have.
Have test subjects pay attention to the recording, picking out and writing down just as much of it as they can hear.

Compare the outcomes of this hearing test for your music performer and non-musician test subjects. Did the musicians do better about the test?
Analyze results more carefully. Did any patterns emerge relating length or kind of musical training or practice to how nicely test subjects did?