The human brain relies on continuous sensory input to function correctly, including sounds. Without them, the hearing centers in the brain begin to lose their ability to listen, worsening hearing independently of damage to the ear.
However, research shows that listening to music may help strengthen hearing because it taxes the brain’s auditory cortex. Therefore, audiophiles may mitigate the impact of hearing loss long-term better than the general population.
How the Brain Affects Hearing
All the body’s tissues age over time, affecting how they function. Researchers have found that it’s not just the machinery in our ears that ages but also the brain regions responsible for processing sound. Neurons receiving signals from the auditory nerve can atrophy or fail to make proper connections with each other. Problems with the nervous system surrounding the ears can lead to reduced sensitivity. The machinery of the ear might be working well, but the brain can fail to interpret the input.
How Can Music Help?
Researchers believe music may help reduce the effects of this process. Listening to it for long periods is like exercise for the brain. Nerve cells must work harder to interpret and process incoming sound signals, encouraging them to build more connections with each other.
Studies show that musicians have strengthened selective auditory attention compared to those who don’t listen to or play music. They can more easily pick out musical melodies from background noises. Investigators believe that the same brain uses the same regions for paying attention to language and other sounds in the environment. They hope that training in this area will improve their capacity to listen.
Investigators are keen to point out the difference between listening and hearing. Hearing refers to the ability of the brain to process sounds to produce a conscious auditory experience. On the other hand, listening requires applying significance to those sounds.
Some people with hearing loss can detect sounds without difficulty. However, they can’t interpret them. It is similar to listening to a foreign language you’ve never heard before. You can hear people talking, but you have no idea what they are saying.
Keeping the Brain Engaged
Music keeps the brain engaged throughout the aging process. Scans of people listening to music reveal that it activates multiple regions and can reduce anxiety, decrease blood pressure, boost sleep quality and even improve mental alertness.
Playing music could be even better for the aging brain and hearing. Reproducing sounds on an instrument stimulates the brain in additional ways that listening to music passively simply can’t. Musicians must learn how to coordinate their bodies in time with the music, activating more areas of cognition.
Though research is ongoing, scientists are following how long-term music practice facilitates changes in the brain. Musical training may help stave off hearing loss similar to how intellectual pursuits reduce the impact of dementia.
What Effect Does Singing Have?
Like playing a musical instrument, singing may also profoundly affect the brain’s auditory center. Specifically, researchers believe it may improve the capacity to listen to individual conversations in noisy environments. Singing requires people to separate the sound of their voice from backing music.
Singing alone can help to some degree but joining a choir may assist even more. Making music with other people releases endorphins that make people smarter and more relaxed. This effect, in turn, may boost the ability of the brain to interpret incoming sound signals. When you sing, you need to pay keen attention to your vocal muscles. Fine pitch perception is necessary to ensure you make sounds that are in tune.
More than 95% of people can match pitches. However, those with hearing loss may struggle. Focusing on pitch-matching can improve the brain’s ability to assess sounds and incorporate them into a more accurate picture of the local sound environment.
Is the Brain-Music Connection Real?
Researchers need to perform more studies to confirm that the brain-music connection is real. However, early evidence suggests that engaging with music is beneficial for people with hearing loss. Music is a mathematical and architectural phenomenon, and the brain is the ideal tool to decipher it. The more inputs the auditory cortex receives, the stronger it may become.
If you want to try listening to music to improve your hearing, put on something familiar that also opens you up to something new. Concentrate on rhythmic music as this tends to activate the brain the most. If you would like to discuss your hearing with an audiologist at Two Rivers Hearing, call us today at (321) 499-2488 to schedule an appointment.
