Closed-field Auditory Spatial Perception and Its Relationship to Musical Aptitude

Abstract

Introduction: Musical aptitude is the innate ability of an individual to understand, appreciate, improvise, and have a good sense of pitch and rhythm, even without undergoing formal musical training. The present study aimed to understand the effect of musical aptitude on auditory spatial perception. Method: Forty nonmusicians were subjected to a musical aptitude test Mini Profile of Music Perception Skills (Mini-PROMS) based on which they were divided into two groups. Group I included 20 nonmusicians with good musical aptitude (NM-GA) and Group II comprised 20 nonmusicians with poor musical aptitude (NM-PA). Auditory spatial tests included interaural time difference (ITD) and interaural level difference (ILD) threshold tests and a closed-field spatial test called virtual acoustic space identification (VASI) test. Results: Kruskal–Wallis test revealed a significant difference between Group I (NM-GA) and Group II (NM-PA) in ITD (p < 0.001), ILD (p = 0.002), and VASI (p = 0.012) tests, suggesting the role of musical aptitude in auditory spatial perception. Correlational analyses showed a moderate positive correlation between Mini-PROMS scores with VASI (r = 0.31, p = 0.04) and a moderate negative correlation with ILD (r = −0.3, p = 0.04) and ITD (r = −0.5, p = 0.001). Conclusion: This study defines a positive association between musical aptitude and auditory spatial perception. Further research should include a comparison of spatial skills among musicians and nonmusicians with good musical aptitude.