[The effect of musical practice on speech recognition in quiet and noisy situations]

Auditory training improves the perception of complex acoustic signals as well as the perception of speech.

To verify if auditory training, through the practice of music, has an influence on the ability to recognize speech in quiet and noisy situations.

Participants of this study were 55 individuals, with no musical experience (non-musicians) and 45 professional musicians who had been playing at military bands for at least 5 years (musicians). All of the participants were male right-handed military volunteers, with normal hearing thresholds and with ages varying between 25 and 40 years. Using the Portuguese Sentence Lists (LSP) test, sentence recognition threshold was investigated in quiet (SRTQ) and in noise (SRTN). Based on the obtained data, the signal/noise ratio (S/N) was calculated. The sentences and noise (fixed to 65 dB HL) had a monoaural presentation using headphones.

When comparing the performances of both groups, the statistical analysis pointed no significant difference between the mean values obtained for the SRTQ. However, a statistically significant difference was verified between the mean values obtained for the S/N ratio.

In a quiet situation, musicians and non-musicians had similar performances. However, in the noise situation, musicians presented better performances, indicating that musical practice is an activity that improves the ability of speech recognition when in a noisy environment.