Amateur singing benefits speech perception in aging under certain conditions of practice: behavioural and neurobiological mechanisms

Abstract

Limited evidence has shown that practising musical activities in aging, such as choral singing, could lessen age-related speech perception in noise (SPiN) di culties. However, the robustness and underlying mechanism of action of this phenomenon remain unclear. In this study, we used surface-based morphometry combined with a moderated mediation analytic approach to examine whether singing-related plasticity in auditory and dorsal speech stream regions can mitigate age-related SPiN di culties. 36 choral singers and 36 non-singers aged 20-87 years underwent cognitive, auditory, and SPiN assessments. Our results provide important new insights into experience-dependent plasticity by revealing that, under certain conditions of practice, amateur choral singing is associated with age-dependent structural plasticity within auditory and dorsal speech regions, which is associated with better SPiN performance in aging. Speci cally, the conditions of practice that were bene cial for SPiN included frequent weekly practice at home, several hours of weekly group singing practice, singing in multiple languages, and having received formal singing training.These results suggest that the effect of amateur choral singing on SPiN is related to a dual mechanism involving auditory processing and auditory-motor integration and may be dose dependent, with more intense singing associated with greater bene t. Our results thus reveal that the relationship between musical practice and SPiN is complex, and underscore the importance of considering musical practice behaviours in understanding the effects of musical activities on the brain-behaviour relationship.

Successful aging of musicians: Preservation of sensorimotor regions aids audiovisual speech-in-noise perception

“…This study demonstrates that long-term musicianship mitigates age-related deficits in audiovisual speech-in-noise perception through both functional preservation and compensation. In line with and extending previous studies using audio-only speech stimuli ( 8 – 10 , 12 , 39 ), we found that lifelong music playing lessens age-related declines in audiovisual speech-in-noise perception. OM showed equivalent phoneme representations in visual and sensorimotor regions to that of YNM, while the phoneme representations in these regions in the ONM were dedifferentiated.…”

“…Among age-related cognitive deficits, difficulty in understanding speech in noisy environments is one of the most prevalent, even in older adults who show normal hearing for their age. Although musicians' advantage in speech perception in noise is not robust in young and middle-aged adults (5)(6)(7), accruing evidence suggests that age-related decline in speech-in-noise perception can be mitigated by long-term or short-term musical training (8)(9)(10)(11)(12). However, such benefits have not yet been demonstrated in audiovisual speechin-noise scenarios in aging populations.…”

Structural Neuroplasticity Effects of Singing in Chronic Aphasia

“…Furthermore, MIT, a singing-based intervention for treating nonfluent aphasia, has been shown to improve connected speech, naming, and repetition ( Sparks et al, 1974 ; Van Der Meulen et al, 2014 ; Zumbansen et al, 2014 ) and linking the positive effects to temporal and frontal speech motor areas, either in the left ( Belin et al, 1996 ; Breier et al, 2011 ) or right ( Schlaug et al, 2008 ; Wan et al, 2014 ; Tabei et al, 2016 ) hemisphere. In the healthy older adults, regular singing has recently been linked to enhanced executive function ( Pentikäinen et al, 2021 ; Vetere et al, 2024 ), frontotemporal auditory functioning ( Pentikäinen et al, 2022 ), structural connectivity ( Perron et al, 2021 ), and structural plasticity in auditory and dorsal speech regions ( Perron et al, 2022 ), suggesting that it may have neuroprotective effects in aging.…”

Choir singing is associated with enhanced structural connectivity across the adult lifespan

“…Recent findings suggest that group singing is effective for promoting long‐term quality of life, mood, cognitive function, and social engagement (Coulton et al, 2015 ; Johnson et al, 2020 ; Pentikäinen et al, 2021 ; Skingley et al, 2016 ; see also Cohen et al, 2006 ), thus providing a cost‐effective tool to support mental health in the ageing population (Coulton et al, 2015 ). Despite its great potential for promoting brain health across adult life, very few studies (e.g., Perron et al, 2021 , 2022 ) have yet studied the effects of choir singing on the ageing brain. Direct evidence of whether choir singing might support the preservation of healthy brain structure at whole‐brain scale is currently missing.…”