The power of song is being highlighted by a researcher at Memorial University, who says music lessons can help improve hearing in seniors.

Dr. Ben Zendel is the Canada Research Chair in Aging Auditory Neuroscience at MUN.

He says many seniors can often hear and understand speech fine in a quiet room, but when background noise is introduced, they have more difficulty.

Past studies have shown that older musicians do not have the same problem, and Zendel suggests it is because of musical aptitude. He says a sample of older adults were taught piano for six months, and after that time they could understand speech in noisy rooms better than those who didn’t have any lessons.

Zendel says it all has to do with connecting the auditory and motor systems. For example, when you play a song on the piano you interpret the sound you are hearing and therefore know how to move your hands to play the next note.

Zendel says some people dropped out of the program because they didn’t like music lessons, and that will be something they are looking at moving forward.

Figuring out who will succeed at music lessons before they start is an area of interest. As well as figuring out what about the music lessons drive the improvements to develop what he calls “music-based forms of auditory rehabilitation.”