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Revisiting the 'enigma' of musicians with dyslexia: auditory sequencing and speech abilities

Zuk, J; Bishop-Liebler, P; Ozernov-Palchik, O; Moore, E; Overy, K; Welch, G; Gaab, N; (2017) Revisiting the 'enigma' of musicians with dyslexia: auditory sequencing and speech abilities. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , 164 (4) pp. 495-511. 10.1037/xge0000281. Green open access

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Abstract

Previous research has suggested a link between musical training and auditory processing skills. Musicians have shown enhanced perception of auditory features critical to both music and speech, suggesting that this link extends beyond basic auditory processing. It remains unclear to what extent musicians who also have dyslexia show these specialized abilities, considering often-observed persistent deficits that coincide with reading impairments. The present study evaluated auditory sequencing and speech discrimination in 52 adults comprised of musicians with dyslexia, nonmusicians with dyslexia, and typical musicians. An auditory sequencing task measuring perceptual acuity for tone sequences of increasing length was administered. Furthermore, subjects were asked to discriminate synthesized syllable continua varying in acoustic components of speech necessary for intra-phonemic discrimination, which included spectral (formant frequency) and temporal (voice onset time (VOT) and amplitude envelope) features. Results indicate that musicians with dyslexia did not significantly differ from typical musicians and performed better than nonmusicians with dyslexia for auditory sequencing as well as discrimination of spectral and VOT cues within syllable continua. However, typical musicians demonstrated superior performance relative to both groups with dyslexia for discrimination of syllables varying in amplitude information. These findings suggest a distinct profile of speech processing abilities in musicians with dyslexia, with specific weaknesses in discerning amplitude cues within speech. Since these difficulties seem to remain persistent in adults with dyslexia despite musical training, this study only partly supports the potential for musical training to enhance the auditory processing skills known to be crucial for literacy in individuals with dyslexia.

Type: Article
Title: Revisiting the 'enigma' of musicians with dyslexia: auditory sequencing and speech abilities
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1037/xge0000281
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000281
Language: English
Additional information: © 2016 American Psychological Association. This article may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.
Keywords: Dyslexia, music, auditory, speech, children
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1535373
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