Short-Term Music Training and Auditory Processing in Older Adults

Most adults experience some degree of hearing loss by age 60. Hearing aids can improve some aspects of peripheral hearing but the loss of the ability to clearly perceive speech in noisy environments remains to be a significant deficit and often reduces life quality in older adults. Long-term music training has been shown to enhance auditory processing and specifically benefit speech-in-noise perception. It is not clear however whether short-term participation in a musically engaged activity can benefit such abilities in older adults. The proposed study aims to investigate whether short-term participation in a weekly community choir can improve speech in noise perception and its neural substrates as measured by sensory auditory evoked potentials (ERPs) to speech stimuli in older adults with mild to moderate subjective hearing loss. Sixty participants, ages 50-65, will be recruited to partake in this study and will be randomly assigned to two groups: participants in the experimental group will join a weekly remote choir on an on-line platform (Zoom), for ten weeks, directed by a professionally trained conductor from USC Department of Choral Music. The group practice will be accompanied by individual singing lessons (online or CDs) for home practice. Participants in the control group will be provided with weekly remote mindfulness lessons also on an on-line platform. All participants will be assessed remotely pre and post intervention, with behavioral measures of speech in noise perception and probes assessing emotional well-being and life satisfaction. Changes in auditory measures and their neural correlates and overall quality of life will be compared between the groups. The findings from this study can provide preliminary data to support a larger study on the impact of music engagement in improving the lives of older adults.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Music Education
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Music Training - Choir participation

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 61
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90089
      • Brain and Creativity Institute

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 50 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Native English speaker with experience of subjective hearing loss;
• Normal IQs (standard score of >85) as measured by the two-subtest Abbreviated Wechsler's Adult Scale of Intelligence.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Use of prescribed hearing aids;
• Sever hearing loss (thresholds of 60 and 95 dB)
• Current diagnosis of neurological or psychiatric disorders
• Impaired cognitive function (all participants will be screened with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Battery)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Mindfulness Training; Participants in the control group will be assigned to a online based mindfulness training.	Behavioral: Music Training - Choir participation; Sixty participants, ages 50-65, will be recruited to partake in this study and will be randomly assigned to two groups: participants in the experimental group will join a weekly on-line choir via Zoom, for ten weeks, directed by a professionally trained conductor from USC Department of Choral Music. The group practice will be accompanied by individual singing lessons (online or CDs) for home practice. Participants in the control group will be provided with weekly remote mindfulness lessons also on an online platform.
Experimental: Music Training; Participants in the experimental group will be assigned to a online based choir program.	Behavioral: Music Training - Choir participation; Sixty participants, ages 50-65, will be recruited to partake in this study and will be randomly assigned to two groups: participants in the experimental group will join a weekly on-line choir via Zoom, for ten weeks, directed by a professionally trained conductor from USC Department of Choral Music. The group practice will be accompanied by individual singing lessons (online or CDs) for home practice. Participants in the control group will be provided with weekly remote mindfulness lessons also on an online platform.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Enhanced speech in noise perception	The effects of age on participants' ability to detect speech in noise will be assessed using the QuickSIN test (Speech-In-Noise; Version 1.3).	15 weeks
Enhanced speech in noise perception	EEG data will be collected using the speech syllable /da/, spoken in isolation by an American female. The stimulus will be presented in four conditions, in quiet and in presence of an 8-talker babble noise at three SNRs (10, 5 and 0 dB), presented in a random order for each participant, with an inter-stimulus interval of 1000 ms.	15 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Psychological Well-Being	Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scale (2007) will be used to measure six aspects of wellbeing and happiness including autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations, purpose in life, and self-acceptance	15 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southern California

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 1, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 30, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): March 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 24, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 25, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): June 26, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 1, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 25, 2022
• Last Verified: May 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: UP-19-00350

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No