How playing an instrument as a child can help hearing in later life: Brain cells respond faster to noise.

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All those years of piano lessons as a child may not have wasted after all.
Music lessons in childhood keep the brain – and hearing – sharp well into old age, a study found.
Even adults who hadn’t played a music instrument for nearly 40 years benefited from the practice put in decades earlier.
The researchers said: ‘This study suggests the importance of music education for children today and for healthy ageing decades from now.’ 
The study looked at how quickly the brain makes sense of sounds.
Although we usually think of deafness starting in the ears, the brain also helps us hear clearly.
If it processes sound more slowly, it can be more difficult to make to hear a conversation from the background noise of a busy bar or restaurant or to hear clearly while on the phone.
The research team, from Northwestern University in Illinois in the US, measured brain activity in 44 healthy adults as they listened to the sound ‘da’.
The more years the men and women had spent learning a musical instrument in youth, the faster the cells, or neurons, in the brain, responded to the sound.
Those who had put in at least four years of practice were around a thousandth of a second faster than those who had never learned an instrument, The Journal of Neuroscience reports.
All instruments, from the piano to accordion, helped equally.

 

Michael Kilgard, a Texas University brain scientist, said: ‘Being a millisecond faster may not seem like much but the brain is very sensitive to timing and a millisecond compounded over millions of neurons can make a real difference in the lives of older adults.
‘These findings confirm that the investments we make in our brains early in life continue to pay dividends years later.’

Finding: Even adults who hadn't played a music instrument for nearly 40 years benefited from the practice put in decades earlier

Researcher Nina Kraus has previously shown that pensioners who have played an instrument throughout their life are even quicker at picking up sounds.
Other studies have shown that learning a musical instrument can boost IQ – and it is never too late to sign up for lessons.
Learning a musical instrument can also make it easier to pick up new languages and interpret the emotions of others.

Helpful: All instruments, including the piano, left, and the guitar, right, help equally, researchers found

Although music lessons seem to be general beneficial, those who enjoy learning an instrument may reap the biggest benefits.
Dr Kraus said: ‘One of the reasons we think that playing music can drive so many changes in the brain is the tight intersection between perpetual, cognition and emotional systems involved in music-making.
‘If you have the emotional engagement that comes from playing an instrument, I’ d hypothesise that the benefits would be greater.

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