The effect of musical training on ecological cocktail party listening

Abstract

A multitude of studies have investigated the phenomenon that experience, such as musical training, has an impact on listener performance in challenging auditory environments. Many studies examining speech-in-speech listening (i.e., the cocktail party problem) simulate an unnatural scenario where the target talker and maskers are all facing the listener. We analyzed participants’ performance in a more realistic situation with a target talker facing the listener and co-located maskers with head orientations facing away from the listener (45 or 60 deg relative to the listener). We aimed to determine if musical training provided an advantage to our participants under these ecological conditions. Stimuli were presented over a loudspeaker to listeners in a sound treated booth. Preliminary data indicate that highly trained musicians (N = 6) perform better than nonmusicians (N = 25) in our task. Musical training may improve auditory functioning in challenging ecological listening situations. Data collection for listeners with extensive musical training is ongoing.