How Music Can Strengthen Your Hearing

If you like listening to music then you should know there may be more benefits to doing so than what you may have originally thought or assumed. It becomes an even more important matter if you’re someone who is currently experiencing hearing loss.

Here we will dive a bit deeper into why music makes a difference in your hearing. In this case, you may be wondering if music can help you hear better and how so. The following information will cover more about how music can strengthen your hearing and how to contact an audiologist if you are worried about your hearing.

How Can Music Help Your Hearing?

Keep in mind that there is a difference between hearing and listening. For instance, just because you can hear doesn’t automatically mean you’re a great listener. The good news is that music can strengthen your hearing and help you also train to become a better listener but the question remains, how.

Hearing is passive and one of your senses. What this means is that you still hear sounds even if you’re not intentionally trying to listen to something. It might be in the background but you may not be giving any attention to it or focusing on it. You may hear very little if anything at all if you are distracted or trying to listen in a crowded space.

Hearing Loss and Music

The main question to address then is if listening to music can improve hearing. You have to take part in listening, which is an active skill. Instead of passive hearing, you are giving something, in particular, your attention with active hearing. You’re using cognitive skills when you practice active listening and focusing or concentrating on the sounds you’re hearing.

A Well-Trained Ear

Another topic to touch on as it relates to music and hearing is to understand better what a well-trained ear is. When you have a good ear you can not only hear accurately but also understand what you hear. You are judging pitch and timber as well as attaching meaning to the sounds. With practice, you have the ability to improve your listening skills overall. One way to sharpen your hearing is to focus on and locate specific sounds.

Music and Listening More Attentively

You have the opportunity to learn to listen more attentively through music. How? Listening to music is enjoyable and good for your health and wellbeing simultaneously. You may know of some of these benefits such as reducing anxiety, improving your mood, and providing comfort. Studies have even been done that have found musicians have better multi-sensory, auditory, and cognitive areas than their counterparts.

Music can improve the brain’s processing of sound, particularly in noisier environments. All of this is important as it relates to hearing and communication. Musicians can understand speech in noisy settings better and identify small differences in tonal and timing quality as well. They’re also known to be better lip readers and have enhanced short-term memory. Older musicians experiencing hearing loss can comprehend speech a lot better than non-musicians who are about the same age and also have hearing loss. Therefore, when applying the right musical brain training, you can train your brain to considerably strengthen your hearing.

Training Your Ears and Brain

Ear training to improve your hearing is more common than you may think, especially with musicians. They must develop superior and trained hearing to excel in their role. Ear training also occurs when you are playing or listening to music, for example. Hearing and listening to music don’t just involve your ears, they also require brain power to process and fine-tune the sounds.

Some exercises that can help you train your ears and strengthen your hearing involve active listening, locating sounds, signing the notes as you play, and listening to music as you try to identify the sounds. Other ideas include listening to different types of music genres and taking a music class with a trained professional.

These are a few of the ways music can strengthen your hearing and help you understand speech better. Music is a powerful tool not only for improving your health but ear training through music can also vastly help you hear better over time.

Hearing aids are a great way to improve speech in noisy environments in combination with a few different brain training exercises. Are you looking to get your hearing tested or look into hearing aids for yourself? You can learn more about Hearing Professionals of Alabama by calling one of the following numbers Auburn: (334) 539-5335 and Montgomery: (334) 557-8930.