NCT03999606

Short-Term Music Training and Auditory Processing in Older Adults

Completed NA Last updated 1 June 2022

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Music Training - Choir participation in Music Education in 61 participants. Completed in 30 March 2021.

Timeline

1 October 2020

Primary endpoint
30 January 2021

30 March 2021

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of Southern California
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	single group
Masking	single
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	61
Start date	1 October 2020
Primary completion	30 January 2021
Estimated completion	30 March 2021
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Music Training - Choir participation

Conditions studied

• Music Education — all drugs for Music Education →

Sponsor

University of Southern California

Who can join

Adults 50 to 65, any sex, with Music Education. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Most adults experience some degree of hearing loss by age 60. Hearing aids can improve some aspects of peripheral hearing but the loss of the ability to clearly perceive speech in noisy environments remains to be a significant deficit and often reduces life quality in older adults. Long-term music training has been shown to enhance auditory processing and specifically benefit speech-in-noise perception. It is not clear however whether short-term participation in a musically engaged activity can benefit such abilities in older adults. The proposed study aims to investigate whether short-term participation in a weekly community choir can improve speech in noise perception and its neural substrates as measured by sensory auditory evoked potentials (ERPs) to speech stimuli in older adults with mild to moderate subjective hearing loss. Sixty participants, ages 50-65, will be recruited to partake in this study and will be randomly assigned to two groups: participants in the experimental group will join a weekly remote choir on an on-line platform (Zoom), for ten weeks, directed by a professionally trained conductor from USC Department of Choral Music. The group practice will be accompanied by individual singing lessons (online or CDs) for home practice. Participants in the control group will be provided with weekly remote mindfulness lessons also on an on-line platform. All participants will be assessed remotely pre and post intervention, with behavioral measures of speech in noise perception and probes assessing emotional well-being and life satisfaction. Changes in auditory measures and their neural correlates and overall quality of life will be compared between the groups. The findings from this study can provide preliminary data to support a larger study on the impact of music engagement in improving the lives of older adults.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial. Completed trials usually publish results within 12-18 months.