Brown Carolyn J, Jeon Eun-Kyung, Driscoll Virginia, Mussoi Bruna, Deshpande Shruti Balvalli, Gfeller Kate, Abbas Paul J
1Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA; and 2Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, St. John's University Queens, New York, USA.
Ear Hear. 2017 Mar/Apr;38(2):e74-e84. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000375.
Evidence suggests that musicians, as a group, have superior frequency resolution abilities when compared with nonmusicians. It is possible to assess auditory discrimination using either behavioral or electrophysiologic methods. The purpose of this study was to determine if the acoustic change complex (ACC) is sensitive enough to reflect the differences in spectral processing exhibited by musicians and nonmusicians.
Twenty individuals (10 musicians and 10 nonmusicians) participated in this study. Pitch and spectral ripple discrimination were assessed using both behavioral and electrophysiologic methods. Behavioral measures were obtained using a standard three interval, forced choice procedure. The ACC was recorded and used as an objective (i.e., nonbehavioral) measure of discrimination between two auditory signals. The same stimuli were used for both psychophysical and electrophysiologic testing.
As a group, musicians were able to detect smaller changes in pitch than nonmusician. They also were able to detect a shift in the position of the peaks and valleys in a ripple noise stimulus at higher ripple densities than non-musicians. ACC responses recorded from musicians were larger than those recorded from non-musicians when the amplitude of the ACC response was normalized to the amplitude of the onset response in each stimulus pair. Visual detection thresholds derived from the evoked potential data were better for musicians than non-musicians regardless of whether the task was discrimination of musical pitch or detection of a change in the frequency spectrum of the ripple noise stimuli. Behavioral measures of discrimination were generally more sensitive than the electrophysiologic measures; however, the two metrics were correlated.
Perhaps as a result of extensive training, musicians are better able to discriminate spectrally complex acoustic signals than nonmusicians. Those differences are evident not only in perceptual/behavioral tests but also in electrophysiologic measures of neural response at the level of the auditory cortex. While these results are based on observations made from normal-hearing listeners, they suggest that the ACC may provide a non-behavioral method of assessing auditory discrimination and as a result might prove useful in future studies that explore the efficacy of participation in a musically based, auditory training program perhaps geared toward pediatric or hearing-impaired listeners.
有证据表明，与非音乐家相比，音乐家群体具有更卓越的频率分辨能力。可以使用行为学或电生理学方法来评估听觉辨别力。本研究的目的是确定听觉变化复合体（ACC）是否足够灵敏，以反映音乐家和非音乐家在频谱处理方面的差异。
20名个体（10名音乐家和10名非音乐家）参与了本研究。使用行为学和电生理学方法评估音高和频谱波纹辨别力。行为测量采用标准的三间隔强制选择程序获得。记录ACC并将其用作两个听觉信号之间辨别的客观（即非行为）测量指标。心理物理学测试和电生理学测试使用相同的刺激。
作为一个群体，音乐家比非音乐家能够检测到更小的音高变化。他们还能够在比非音乐家更高的波纹密度下检测到波纹噪声刺激中峰谷位置的偏移。当将ACC反应的幅度归一化为每个刺激对中起始反应的幅度时，从音乐家记录的ACC反应大于从非音乐家记录的反应。无论任务是辨别音乐音高还是检测波纹噪声刺激频谱的变化，从诱发电位数据得出的视觉检测阈值对音乐家来说都比对非音乐家更好。辨别力的行为测量通常比电生理学测量更灵敏；然而，这两个指标是相关的。
也许是由于广泛的训练，音乐家比非音乐家更能辨别频谱复杂的声学信号。这些差异不仅在感知/行为测试中明显，而且在听觉皮层水平的神经反应的电生理学测量中也很明显。虽然这些结果是基于对听力正常的听众的观察，但它们表明ACC可能提供一种评估听觉辨别的非行为方法，因此可能在未来探索参与基于音乐的听觉训练计划（可能针对儿童或听力受损的听众）的效果的研究中证明是有用的。
