Differential advantages of musical backgrounds on binaural integration and interaction skills in instrumentalists,vocalists,and non-musicians

Background:Musical perception requires a host of skills.Instrumental musicians place greater emphasis on motor coordination,whereas vocal musicians rehearse vocal sounds.The study explored the differential advantages of musical background on binaural integration and interaction in musicians(instrumentalists,vocalists)and compared them with age-matched non-musicians.Methods:Eight six participants aged 20e40 y with normal hearing sensitivity were subjected to binaural tests using a standard group comparison research design.The participants were segregated into three groups e Group 1 included instrumentalists(n?26,mean age:17.73±2.83 y),while Group 2 and Group 3 consisted of vocalists(n?30,mean age:19.30±2.47 y)and non-musicians(n?30,mean age:18.20±3.02 y)respectively.The binaural processes namely integration(Dichotic syllable test,DST;and virtual acoustic space identification-VASI)and interaction(Interaural difference thresholds for time and level:ITD&ILD),were administered on all the participants.Results:Statistical analyses showed the main effect of musicianship.Bonferroni pair-wise test revealed that the musicians(instrumentalists and vocalists)outperformed(p<0.05)non-musicians in all the tests.The differential advantage of the musical background was seen on the binaural integration test with instrumentalists performing better in the VASI test compared to vocalists,and vice-versa for DST.No difference was observed in interaction tasks(ITD&ILD)between vocalists and instrumentalists(p>0.05).Conclusion:Musical background-induced differential advantages can be reasonably noted in the binaural skills of instrumentalists and vocalists(compared to non-musicians).

Test re-test reliability of virtual acoustic space identification (VASI) test in young adults with normal hearing

Background:Recent developments in virtual acoustic technology has levered promising applications in the field of auditory sciences,especially in spatial perception.While conventional auditory spatial assessment using loudspeakers,interaural differences and/or questionnaires are limited by the availability and cost of instruments,the use of virtual acoustic space identification(VASI)test has widespread applications in spatial test battery as it overcomes these constraints.Purpose:The lack of test-retest reliability data of VASI test narrows its direct application in auditory spatial assessment,which is explored in the present study.Methods:Data from 75 normal-hearing young adults(mean age:25.11 y±4.65 SD)was collected in three sessions:baseline,within 15 min of baseline(intra-session),and one week after baseline session(inter-session).Test-retest reliability was assessed using the intra-class correlation coefficient(ICC),coefficient of variation(CV),and cluster plots.Results:The results showed excellent reliability for both accuracy and reaction time measures of VASI,with ICC values of 0.93 and 0.87,respectively.The CV values for overall VASI accuracy and reaction time 9.66% and 11.88%,respectively.This was also complemented by the cluster plot analyses,which showed 93.33% and 96.00% of temporal stability in the accuracy and reaction time measures,indicative of high test-retest reliability of VASI test in auditory spatial assessment.Conclusions:The high temporal stability(test-retest reliability)of VASI test validates its application in spatial hearing test battery.

Profiles and predictors of onset based differences in vocal characteristics of adults with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder(ANSD)

Purpose:Onset-based differences are understudied in Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder(ANSD)in dimensions such as voice,which is addressed in the study.The study aimed to profile and predict the best metrics of onset-related differences in acoustic vocal characteristics of early and late-onset ANSD patients.Methods:31 participants(15 early and 16 late-onset)aged 15e30 years diagnosed with ANSD were included in the study.The sustained phonation of vowel/i/recorded by the participants using android based smartphones of selected configuration was sent over email to the experimenter.Acoustic parameters(fundamental frequency,harmonic frequencies,jitter,shimmer,harmonic-to-noise ratio,cepstral peak prominence-CPP,and pitch sigma)were analysed using Praat software.Results:Results revealed significantly increased(p<0.05)fundamental frequency along with decreased F2 and F3 of/i/in the early-onset ANSD compared to the late-onset group,which can be explained based on differences in the pathophysiology of the disorder.Although not statistically significant,mean perturbations(jitter and shimmer),harmonic-to-noise ratio,cepstral peak prominence,and pitch sigma were more affected in the early-onset group,reflective of lowered auditory feedback and periodicity in their voice samples.Results of discriminant analysis marked the emergence of F2,F3,and CPP as the most sensitive metrics for onset-based group differences in voice characteristics.Conclusions:The findings from the study highlight the role of acoustical voice evaluation(especially CPP,F2&F3)in verifying the onset of ANSD disorder.The insights from the onset-based differences seen in vocal characteristics can indirectly help audiologists in deciding the management options for ANSD.