Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, 320317, Taiwan.
Cognitive Intelligence and Precision Healthcare Center, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, 320317, Taiwan.
Sci Rep. 2022 Sep 29;12(1):16344. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-20869-2.
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.
最近的证据表明，音乐家在嘈杂背景下感知言语可能比非音乐家有优势。以前，音乐家被视为同质群体，尽管表现出异质性，但这可能导致研究结果存在差异。在这里，我们研究了“准”绝对音高（AP）熟练度是否可以解释音乐家在噪声下听力（HIN）表现方面的优势，而不论这些声道是言语还是音乐声音。一个由 12 名非音乐家和 42 名受过训练的音乐家组成的队列，根据 AP 熟练度的高低分为高、中、低三个层次，在四种信噪比（0、-3、-6 和-9dB）下识别被噪声掩盖的言语或旋律目标（言语形状、多说话者和多音乐）。评估了与 HIN 益处相关的认知能力，包括听觉工作记忆和使用视空间线索。AP 熟练度通过音高调整和相对音高任务进行验证。我们发现 HIN 感知存在特定领域的效应：准 AP 能力与噪声中旋律目标的感知改善有关，但与言语目标无关。准 AP 优势扩展到了旋律工作记忆和空间线索的使用，但仅在旋律声道分离期间。总的来说，结果不支持言语感知中所谓的音乐家优势，但表明在嘈杂环境下感知音乐存在准 AP 优势。
