Loudness adaptation in musicians and nonmusicians

Abstract

Measurements of simple and induced loudness adaptation were made on 10–12 musicians and 10–12 nonmusicians by the method of successive magnitude estimations. Simple adaptation (SA) was measured for a 500-, 1000-, or 4000-Hz tone presented monaurally for 3 min at 10 dB SL. Induced adaptation was measured for a continuous 1000-Hz, 60-dB SPL right-ear tone; loudness was judged before, during, and after each occurrence of an intermittent inducer tone set to five frequencies from 500–3260 Hz and presented every 30 s for 10 s to the same ear (ipsilaterally induced adaptation, IIA) or to the left ear (contralaterally induced adaptation, CIA). We also measured CIA with a rapid intermittency of every 1 s for 0.5 s. The level of the inducer was 60 dB for CIA and 75 dB for IIA. Musicians showed less adaptation than nonmusicians whatever the type of adaptation: For the musicians, the maximum loudness decrease was 44% under SA, 30% under CIA, 30% under IIA; for the nonmusicians, this maximum was 70% under SA, 70% under CIA, 41% under IIA, but differences were statistically significant only for SA and for CIA with the rapid intermittency. Moreover, musicians showed significant adaptation over a less extended range of frequencies than nonmusicians.