brain plasticity: changes from various sounds (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, December 16, 2015, 01:00 (3267 days ago) @ David Turell

A study in how different sources of sounds changes the brain:-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151214185800.htm-"'The sounds of our lives change our brain," said Kraus, an inventor, amateur musician and director of Northwestern's Auditory Neuroscience Lab in the School of Communication. "In our lab, we investigate how our life in sound changes the brain, and how different forms of enrichment or decline influence how our brain processes sound."-"To measure the brain's response to sound, researchers play speech or music directly into the ears of study volunteers. The scientists then measure the electricity created by the brain as it translates sound through sensors attached to participants' heads.-'Results from a series of studies involving thousands of participants from birth to age 90 suggest that the brain's ability to process sound is influenced by everything from playing music and learning a new language to aging, language disorders and hearing loss.-"Studies indicate that across the lifespan, people who actively play music (as a hobby) can hear better in noise than those who don't play music. Kraus' work also suggests that poverty and a mother's education level can affect a child's ability to process the essential parts of sound.-"'We're able to look at how the brain processes essential ingredients in sound, which are rooted in pitch and timing and timbre," Kraus said at Falling Walls. "A mixing board is a good analogy. It's very fine tuning.'"-Comment: Same as always. Our brain is built to help us.