Short‐term plasticity of neuro‐auditory processing induced by musical active listening training

Abstract

Although there is strong evidence for the positive effects of musical training on auditory perception, processing, and training‐induced neuroplasticity, there is still little knowledge on the auditory and neurophysiological short‐term plasticity through listening training. In a sample of 37 adolescents (20 musicians and 17 nonmusicians) that was compared to a control group matched for age, gender, and musical experience, we conducted a 2‐week active listening training (AULOS: Active IndividUalized Listening OptimizationS). Using magnetoencephalography and psychoacoustic tests, the short‐term plasticity of auditory evoked fields and auditory skills were examined in a pre‐post design, adapted to the individual neuro‐auditory profiles. We found bilateral, but more pronounced plastic changes in the right auditory cortex. Moreover, we observed synchronization of the auditory evoked P1, N1, and P2 responses and threefold larger amplitudes of the late P2 response, similar to the reported effects of musical long‐term training. Auditory skills and thresholds benefited largely from the AULOS training. Remarkably, after training, the mean thresholds improved by 12 dB for bone conduction and by 3–4 dB for air conduction. Thus, our findings indicate a strong positive influence of active listening training on neural auditory processing and perception in adolescence, when the auditory system is still developing.

Chronology of auditory processing and related co-activation in the orbitofrontal cortex depends on musical expertise

“…Here, we show that the magnitude of the auditory-evoked P2 response correlates strongly with the timing of orbitofrontal activation. Other recent studies support the finding that the P2 response initiates multisensory integration processes and prepares transfer effects into other domains ( Schneider et al, 2022 ).…”

“…However, while in the child group musicians showed lower mean values of the right amplitude compared with the non-musicians, this was the opposite for the adult groups where the mean values were considerably larger for musicians when compared with the non-musicians. This shift could be explained by the fact that P2 develops more through both music making and listening experience and then becomes the strongest component either through long-term training ( Benner et al, 2017 ) or by short-term plasticity ( Schneider et al, 2022 ). Interestingly, the mean values of the musicians and non-musicians for the left P1 latency, the right P1 amplitude, and the right and the left P2 amplitudes did not differ in the adolescent group.…”

“…We used the same acoustic stimulation protocol with seven different sampled instrument sounds (piano, guitar, flute, bass clarinet, trumpet, violin, and percussion) and four artificial simple harmonic complex tones in all subjects because of comparability. This protocol has been applied in the identical form in previous studies with children ( Seither-Preisler et al, 2014 ), adolescents ( Wengenroth et al, 2010 ; Serrallach et al, 2016 ; Christiner et al, 2022 ; Groß et al, 2022 ; Schneider et al, 2022 ), and adults ( Schneider et al, 2005 ; Wengenroth et al, 2014 ). One was that our findings can be compared with previous investigations, which represents an important advantage.…”

“…The subsequent secondary N1 and tertiary P2 responses of the auditory belt and parabelt areas originate more in the surrounding belt areas of the first HG ( Schneider et al, 2005 ). The P1-N1-P2 complex of late auditory-evoked fields is generally related to elementary sound perception, attentional factors, feature recognition, and especially precognitive processes, but rarely to handedness or gender ( Schneider et al, 2022 ). The latter is known to influence the sensitivity and hemispheric dominance of later event-related potential (ERP) components such as N2a, mismatch negativity, or P3 ( Patel and Azzam, 2005 ; Sur and Sinha, 2009 ).…”

What Makes a Foreign Language Intelligible? An Examination of the Impact of Musical Ability and Individual Differences on Language Perception and How Intelligible Foreign Languages Appear

“…In addition, the participants reported that they did not possess cognitive, neurological, or hearing impairments. Furthermore, the participant’s elementary hearing ability was also assessed by using the KLAWA (Klangwahrnehmung) measure as used in previous investigations ( Christiner et al 2022b ; Schneider et al 2022 ). The results indicated that all participants were within the expected normal hearing range.…”