Many studies report links between music training and speech perception. Although music training is typically considered to cause these enhancements, emerging evidence reveals an important role for natural musical abilities. Because auditory processing is central for music and speech perception, individual differences in low-level auditory skills could help to explain links between musicality and language. Psychoacoustic abilities often predict performance on speech tasks, but a similar link with tests of musical ability remains unexplored. Here, we seek to establish whether auditory processing is linked to individual differences in musical ability, even when music training and general cognition factors are accounted for. We collected data from 140 adults with varying levels of musical ability, whose auditory acuity was measured with nine psychoacoustic tests, each tapping into fundamental dimensions of sound processing. Musical ability was measured with tests of melody and rhythm discrimination, whereas a self-report questionnaire gathered information about musical experiences and behaviors. Data analysis is ongoing, but preliminary results suggest that better performance in psychoacoustic tests is associated with scores on musical ability tests, even when we remove some of the variance related to general cognition and expertise. The results should inform our understanding of the listening skills that lead to individual differences in musical ability.

--

music perception,musical ability,auditory processing,music training