Effect of musical training on auditory memory

Abstract

Musical practice leads to cognitive development, requiring the activation of several processing mechanisms that are based on encoding and storing sounds through memory. The objective was to evaluate the auditory memory (ability to recognize tonal patterns) in musicians and non-musicians, comparing their performance.Two groups with normal hearing and aged between 17 and 18 years old were compared, one of musicians (N = 14, with average of 8 years of musical training) and a control group (N = 14). Pure tone audiogram and an auditory working memory/pattern recognition test of non-verbal sounds (tonal) were performed. The participant heard 2 consecutive sequences of 6 tonal sounds each and had to say whether they were the same or different from each other. In total 30 pairs of sequences are presented (binaurally).The mean of percentage of correct responses in the memory/pattern recognition test was higher in musician’s group than in control group with statistically significant differences between groups (P = 0.002). The difference between the mean of percentage of correct responses in each group was 11.44%.The musicians present better auditory memory/recognition of non-verbal (tonal) sounds in relation to the non-musicians, which points to the effectiveness of musical practice in the cognitive development of working memory and recognition of sound patterns. This study, according to others in the field, shows that musical training improves memory and auditory skills, which are known to be fundamental to the academic success of young people in this age group.