Domain-specific hearing-in-noise performance is associated with absolute pitch proficiency

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that musicians may have an advantage over non-musicians in perceiving speech against noisy backgrounds. Previously, musicians have been compared as a homogenous group, despite demonstrated heterogeneity, which may contribute to discrepancies between studies. Here, we investigated whether “quasi”-absolute pitch (AP) proficiency, viewed as a general trait that varies across a spectrum, accounts for the musician advantage in hearing-in-noise (HIN) performance, irrespective of whether the streams are speech or musical sounds. A cohort of 12 non-musicians and 42 trained musicians stratified into high, medium, or low AP proficiency identified speech or melody targets masked in noise (speech-shaped, multi-talker, and multi-music) under four signal-to-noise ratios (0, − 3, − 6, and − 9 dB). Cognitive abilities associated with HIN benefits, including auditory working memory and use of visuo-spatial cues, were assessed. AP proficiency was verified against pitch adjustment and relative pitch tasks. We found a domain-specific effect on HIN perception: quasi-AP abilities were related to improved perception of melody but not speech targets in noise. The quasi-AP advantage extended to tonal working memory and the use of spatial cues, but only during melodic stream segregation. Overall, the results do not support the putative musician advantage in speech-in-noise perception, but suggest a quasi-AP advantage in perceiving music under noisy environments.

Exploring the role of singing, semantics, and amusia screening in speech-in-noise perception in musicians and non-musicians

“…Turning to music training and speech-in-noise perception, no musicianship advantage was observed in line with several previous studies (Boebinger et al 2015 ; Hsieh et al 2022 ; Madsen et al 2017 , 2019 ; Ruggles et al 2014 ; Yeend et al 2017 ). Inevitably, there is some variation in the design of previous studies that have (Meha-Bettison et al 2018 ; Parbery-Clark et al 2009a , b ; Slater et al 2015 ) or have not (Boebinger et al 2015 ; Madsen et al 2017 , 2019 ; Ruggles et al 2014 ; Yeend et al 2017 ) found differences between musicians and non-musicians in this regard.…”

“…A similar finding was reported in a longitudinal study also using HINT (Slater et al 2015 ) and another study using a different design (Meha-Bettison et al 2018 ). However, many other studies have failed to replicate a musicianship advantage for speech perception in noise (Boebinger et al 2015 ; Hsieh et al 2022 ; Madsen et al 2017 , 2019 ; Ruggles et al 2014 ; Yeend et al 2017 ).…”