Listening Effort for Speech in Noise Perception Using Pupil Dilation: A Comparison Among Percussionists, Non-Percussionists, and Non-Musicians.

Background and objectives: Most studies in literature attribute the benefits of musical training on speech in noise (SIN) perception to "experience-based" plasticity, which assists in the activation of speech-processing networks. However, whether musicianship provides an advantage for the listening effort (LE) required to comprehend speech in degraded environments has received less attention. The current study aimed to understand the influence of Indian classical music training on SIN perception and its related LE across percussionists, non-percussionists, and non-musicians.

Subjects and methods: A quasi-experiment was conducted on 16 percussionists, 17 non-percussionists, and 26 non-musicians aged 18-35 years with normal hearing. In phase 1, musical abilities were assessed using Mini-Profile of Music Perception Skills (Mini-PROMS). Phase 2 examined SIN using Tamil Phonemically-Balanced Words and Tamil Matrix Sentence Test at +5 dB, 0 dB, and -5 dB SNR and LE using pupillometry, measuring pupil dilations with an eye-tracker.

Results: Fractional Logit and Linear Regression models demonstrated that percussionists outperformed non-percussionists in Tuning and Speed subsets of Mini-PROMS. Percussionists outperformed non-percussionists and non-musicians in SIN and LE at -5 dB SNR for words and at 0 dB and -5 dB SNR for sentences.

Conclusions: Percussionists have the greatest advantage in decoding SIN with reduced LE followed by non-percussionists and non-musicians, demonstrating musician-advantage in most challenging listening conditions.