Nisha Kavassery Venkateswaran, Parmar Adya, Shivaiah Chandana, Prabhu Prashanth
Department of Audiology, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH), Naimisham Campus, Manasagangothri, Mysore, 570006, India.
J Otol. 2023 Oct;18(4):185-192. doi: 10.1016/j.joto.2023.06.003. Epub 2023 Jul 7.
Musical perception requires a host of skills. Instrumental musicians place greater emphasis on motor coordination, whereas vocal musicians rehearse vocal sounds. The study explored the differential advantages of musical background on binaural integration and interaction in musicians (instrumentalists, vocalists) and compared them with age-matched non-musicians.
Eight six participants aged 20-40 y with normal hearing sensitivity were subjected to binaural tests using a standard group comparison research design. The participants were segregated into three groups - Group 1 included instrumentalists (n = 26, mean age: 17.73 ± 2.83 y), while Group 2 and Group 3 consisted of vocalists (n = 30, mean age: 19.30 ± 2.47 y) and non-musicians (n = 30, mean age: 18.20 ± 3.02 y) respectively. The binaural processes namely integration (Dichotic syllable test, DST; and virtual acoustic space identification - VASI) and interaction (Interaural difference thresholds for time and level: ITD & ILD), were administered on all the participants.
Statistical analyses showed the main effect of musicianship. Bonferroni pair-wise test revealed that the musicians (instrumentalists and vocalists) outperformed ( < 0.05) non-musicians in all the tests. The differential advantage of the musical background was seen on the binaural integration test with instrumentalists performing better in the VASI test compared to vocalists, and vice-versa for DST. No difference was observed in interaction tasks (ITD & ILD) between vocalists and instrumentalists ( > 0.05).
Musical background-induced differential advantages can be reasonably noted in the binaural skills of instrumentalists and vocalists (compared to non-musicians).
音乐感知需要一系列技能。器乐演奏者更强调运动协调能力，而声乐演唱者则练习发声。本研究探讨了音乐背景在音乐家（器乐演奏者、声乐演唱者）双耳整合和交互方面的差异优势，并将他们与年龄匹配的非音乐家进行比较。
采用标准组比较研究设计，对86名年龄在20 - 40岁、听力敏感度正常的参与者进行双耳测试。参与者被分为三组——第一组包括器乐演奏者（n = 26，平均年龄：17.73 ± 2.83岁），第二组和第三组分别由声乐演唱者（n = 30，平均年龄：19.30 ± 2.47岁）和非音乐家（n = 30，平均年龄：18.20 ± 3.02岁）组成。对所有参与者进行双耳处理，即整合（双耳音节测试，DST；以及虚拟声学空间识别 - VASI）和交互（时间和强度的耳间差异阈值：ITD和ILD）测试。
统计分析显示了音乐素养的主要影响。Bonferroni两两比较检验表明，在所有测试中，音乐家（器乐演奏者和声乐演唱者）的表现均优于非音乐家（P < 0.05）。在双耳整合测试中可以看到音乐背景的差异优势，器乐演奏者在VASI测试中的表现优于声乐演唱者，而在DST测试中则相反。声乐演唱者和器乐演奏者在交互任务（ITD和ILD）方面没有差异（P > 0.05）。
与非音乐家相比，器乐演奏者和声乐演唱者的双耳技能中可以合理地观察到音乐背景带来的差异优势。
