The effects of short-term musical training on the neural processing of speech-in-noise in older adults

Experienced musicians outperform non-musicians in understanding speech-in-noise (SPIN). The benefits of lifelong musicianship endure into older age, where musicians experience smaller declines in their ability to understand speech in noisy environments. However, it is presently unknown whether commencing musical training in old age can also counteract age-related decline in speech perception, and whether such training induces changes in neural processing of speech. Here, we recruited older adult non-musicians and assigned them to receive a short course of piano or videogame training, or no training. Participants completed two sessions of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging where they performed a SPIN task prior to and following training. While we found no direct benefit of musical training upon SPIN perception, an exploratory Region of Interest analysis revealed increased cortical responses to speech in left Middle Frontal and Supramarginal Gyri which correlated with changes in SPIN task performance in the group which received music training. These results suggest that short-term musical training in older adults may enhance neural encoding of speech, with the potential to reduce age-related decline in speech perception.