# AIISH study links continuous musical training to ten-year delay in hearing decline

- Published: 2026-11-08 10:49 UTC
- Section: Life & Health › Neurotechnology
- Tags: speech perception in noise, AIISH Mysore, musical training, auditory aging, audiometry
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-a960e7a6bc97b45b9b36f952_aiish_study_links/

**Researchers evaluated speech perception in noise across cohorts and found musicians retained auditory filtering capacity a decade longer.**

![AIISH study links continuous musical training to ten-year delay in hearing decline](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/4bec94a5b1004500.webp)
*ad-hoc-news.de*

Continuous musical training could delay the age-related decline in speech perception in noise by approximately ten years, according to a study by the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing published in the Journal of Otology in April 2025, reports ad-hoc-news.de [1]. The researchers evaluated two cohorts: 75 musicians and 75 non-musicians, with participants ranging in age from their 10s to their 50s [1]. A standard hearing test yielding normal baseline results was an inclusion criterion for all subjects [1].

## Audiometric baseline and complex signal processing

Standard pure-tone audiometry and inner ear function assessments showed no significant differences between the two cohorts [1]. Baseline hearing thresholds remained at comparable levels regardless of musical background [1]. Differences emerged under complex audiometric demands: musicians performed consistently better than non-musicians in speech-perception-in-noise tasks across all age brackets [1].

## Cohort differences across middle age

The discrepancy became particularly pronounced in middle-aged participants [1]. Non-musicians showed a sharp decline in the ability to filter speech from ambient noise beginning in their 40s, whereas this decline appeared in musicians only from their 50s onward [1]. From this shifted trajectory, the investigators deduced an offset in functional decline of about ten years [1]. The team noted that the cross-sectional study design limits causal claims, and longitudinal studies are required to confirm the extent of neuroacoustic preservation [1].

## Sources

1. [ad-hoc-news.de](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/wissenschaft/musiktraining-studie-sieht-zehn-jahre-spaeteren-rueckgang-beim-sprachverstehen/70477004)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-a960e7a6bc97b45b9b36f952_aiish_study_links/