If you have trouble keeping up with rapid speech or conversations in noisy rooms, it may be due to problems with the brain’s processing of rapid changes in sound. New research offers a learning technique that can help tackle the problem and improve listening skills. It involves figuring out how the brain can distinguish the speed of sound, known as pitch discrimination training. And as the study shows, this technique could potentially improve the hearing of millions of older people, bearing in mind, of course, that our ability to filter sounds tends to decline with age.

Noticing subtle changes in sounds depends on the brain’s ability to process sound stimuli over time, called auditory temporal processing. This not only affects our understanding of language; It helps us understand every sound that reaches our ears.

“We’ve seen some evidence that these temporal processing deficits can be ameliorated in animal models, but this is the first time we’ve shown this in humans,” says neuroscientist Samira Anderson of the University of Maryland.

Within the scope of the study, speed discrimination training was given to a total of 40 volunteers. This involved completing nine sessions lasting 45-60 minutes each; during this time, participants were asked to distinguish between tones played in rapid succession. During training, these people had to notice changes in frequency – to determine which tones in a string had a higher or lower pitch. Similar tests were used before and after each participant’s ability to distinguish changes in the sound they heard.

Compared with a control group of 37 participants whose sessions included a simpler tonal perception exercise, those trained in frequency discrimination showed improvement in their ability to distinguish changes in pitch and speed of sound. This has been consistently demonstrated by both younger and older participants, including older participants with some hearing impairment.

Overall, sound perception test scores were better after the training period than before; some older volunteers can be compared before training with younger volunteers who score after training. In their published paper, the researchers wrote that the results “show the potential of auditory training to partially restore temporal processing in older listeners and highlight the role of cognitive function in these achievements.”

Previous studies have explored this idea as well: for example, musical training has been shown to improve temporal processing in people with normal hearing. The scientists also found evidence that the brain retains some plasticity (the ability to change or rearrange its connections) into old age. The current study was designed to further explore these areas, particularly with regard to how similar training exercises might affect auditory temporal processing in younger and older individuals.

As always, there is still a lot of work to be done. For further research, the researchers aim to recruit additional groups of people to gather more data on rate discrimination learning and its potentially positive effects. The team also wants to see how memory demands might change the effects of these exercises.

“The results hold great promise for the development of clinically viable hearing education programs that can improve older listeners’ ability to communicate in complex situations,” says audiologist Sandra Gordon-Salant, also of the University of Maryland, the project’s principal investigator. Source