Comparison of Functional Asymmetry of Cerebral Hemispheres in Dichotic Listening Condition in Old Musician and Non-Musician Listeners

One of the most important capabilities of central auditory nervous system is dichotic listening processing, which undergoes changes with aging, similar to peripheral hearing. The results of the studies about comparison of functional asymmetry of cerebral hemispheres between musician and non-musician elderlies reveal advantages of musician old age in dichotic listening processing. In the present investigation, functional asymmetry of cerebral hemispheres is investigated in dichotic listening musician and non-musician elderlies with normal hearing using dichotic digit test.
Material and The current cross-sectional study was performed on 40 right-handed musician (N= 20) and non-musician (N= 20) elderlies aged 60 to 80 years with normal hearing using the Persian version of the dichotic digit test. Data was analyzed running independent t test and man-whitny test. Finally, the results of right and left ears were compared in Non-Forced Attention (NF), Forced Right (FR), and Forced Left (FL) attention conditions.
Comparison of dichotic digit test results in divided attention condition showed significant difference between the two groups (p-value The results of the present study confirmed better function in musician elderlies compared with non-musician elderlies in divided attention and competitive environment particularly in FL attention condition. In fact, musician elderlie's desire to acquire information through both ears in noisy places, unlike their non-musician counterparts. Finally, musician elderlies showed lower hemispheric asymmetries with higher scores obtained in dichotic digit test.