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 [log in to unmask] Twitter: @olyerickson Skype: @olyerickson