Clearly not talking about people who burn their ears out with loud amplifiers.
They call themselves musicians too.

On Aug 2, 2011, at 7:19 AM, John Erickson wrote:

> Willy requested that I post a link to this story: "Can Music
> Experience Improve Older Adults' Hearing?" (Northwestern University
> Newscenter) <http://bit.ly/nyib8l>
> 
> Can Music Experience Improve Older Adults' Hearing?
> Older musicians excel in memory and hearing speech in noise compared
> to non-musicians
> By Wendy Leopold (May 11, 2011)
> 
> EVANSTON, Ill. --- A growing body of research finds musical training
> gives students learning advantages in the classroom. Now a
> Northwestern University study finds musical training can benefit
> Grandma, too, by offsetting some of the deleterious effects of aging.
> 
> “Lifelong musical training appears to confer advantages in at least
> two important functions known to decline with age -- memory and the
> ability to hear speech in noise,” says Nina Kraus, director of the
> Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory and co-author of the study in the May
> 11 issue of the online science journal PLoS One.
> 
> Co-written by Northwestern researchers Alexandra Parbery-Clark, Dana
> Strait, Samira Anderson, Emily Hittner and Kraus, “Musical Experience
> and the Aging Auditory System” finds that -- when compared to their
> non-musician counterparts -- musicians 45- to 65-years-old excel in
> auditory memory and the ability to hear speech in noisy
> environments...
> 
> (more at link above)
> 
> =========
> 
> The citation for the work is: Parbery-Clark A, Strait DL, Anderson S,
> Hittner E, Kraus N. (2011) "Musical Experience and the Aging Auditory
> System: Implications for Cognitive Abilities and Hearing Speech in
> Noise." PLoS ONE 6(5): e18082. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0018082
> <http://bit.ly/nwWQof>
> 
> -- 
> John S. Erickson, Ph.D.
> http://bitwacker.com
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> Twitter: @olyerickson
> Skype: @olyerickson