Music Training and Education Slow the Deterioration of Music Perception Produced by Presbycusis in the Elderly.

Felipe N Moreno-Gómez,Alexies Dagnino-Subiabre,Felipe Panussis,Cristián Martínez,Paul H Delano,Carolina Delgado,Guillermo Véliz,Marcos Rojas,Rubén Olmedo

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2017.00149

Abstract

The perception of music depends on the normal function of the peripheral and central auditory system. Aged subjects without hearing loss have altered music perception, including pitch and temporal features. Presbycusis or age-related hearing loss is a frequent condition in elderly people, produced by neurodegenerative processes that affect the cochlear receptor cells and brain circuits involved in auditory perception. Clinically, presbycusis patients have bilateral high-frequency hearing loss and deteriorated speech intelligibility. Music impairments in presbycusis subjects can be attributed to the normal aging processes and to presbycusis neuropathological changes. However, whether presbycusis further impairs music perception remains controversial. Here, we developed a computerized version of the Montreal battery of evaluation of amusia (MBEA) and assessed music perception in 175 Chilean adults aged between 18 and 90 years without hearing complaints and in symptomatic presbycusis patients. We give normative data for MBEA performance in a Latin-American population, showing age and educational effects. In addition, we found that symptomatic presbycusis was the most relevant factor determining global MBEA accuracy in aged subjects. Moreover, we show that melodic impairments in presbycusis individuals were diminished by music training, while the performance in temporal tasks were affected by the educational level and music training. We conclude that music training and education are important factors as they can slow the deterioration of music perception produced by age-related hearing loss.

Highlights

The perception of music depends on the normal function of the auditory system, including cochlear receptor cells, auditory nerve neurons and the central auditory pathways (Särkämö et al, 2013; Wipe et al, 2013; Theunissen and Elie, 2014)
We developed a computerized version of the Montreal battery of evaluation of amusia (MBEA, Peretz et al, 2003) and evaluated music perception in Chilean adults aged between 18 and 90 years without hearing complaints and in symptomatic presbycusis patients
We found that symptomatic presbycusis is the most relevant factor explaining the observed variation in global MBEA accuracy in aged subjects (>60 years) [F(1,85) = 26.93, minimal adequate model, Table 3], showing that music perception is more altered in presbycusis patients than in aged controls with no hearing complaints

Summary

Introduction

The perception of music depends on the normal function of the auditory system, including cochlear receptor cells, auditory nerve neurons and the central auditory pathways (Särkämö et al, 2013; Wipe et al, 2013; Theunissen and Elie, 2014). MBEA in Elderly and Presbycusis context, music perception can be thought as a complex brain function including sensorimotor and cognitive networks (Särkämö et al, 2013) These brain circuits are affected by age-related neurodegenerative processes, causing hearing and cognitive impairments (Panza et al, 2015). The temporal properties of a sequence of acoustical stimuli are the bases of musical rhythm and meter, while the timbral dimension allows recognition of auditory objects. These acoustic features have a counterpart in brain processing, as empirical evidence indicate that distinctive brain areas are active when processing different musical components (Stewart et al, 2006; Janata, 2015). Liégeois-Chauvel et al (1998) found that an intact posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) is fundamental for melodic processing, while the anterior STG is important for temporal processing

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