RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Older Adults Benefit from Music Training Early in Life: Biological Evidence for Long-Term Training-Driven Plasticity JF The Journal of Neuroscience JO J. Neurosci. FD Society for Neuroscience SP 17667 OP 17674 DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2560-13.2013 VO 33 IS 45 A1 White-Schwoch, Travis A1 Carr, Kali Woodruff A1 Anderson, Samira A1 Strait, Dana L. A1 Kraus, Nina YR 2013 UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/45/17667.abstract AB Aging results in pervasive declines in nervous system function. In the auditory system, these declines include neural timing delays in response to fast-changing speech elements; this causes older adults to experience difficulty understanding speech, especially in challenging listening environments. These age-related declines are not inevitable, however: older adults with a lifetime of music training do not exhibit neural timing delays. Yet many people play an instrument for a few years without making a lifelong commitment. Here, we examined neural timing in a group of human older adults who had nominal amounts of music training early in life, but who had not played an instrument for decades. We found that a moderate amount (4–14 years) of music training early in life is associated with faster neural timing in response to speech later in life, long after training stopped (>40 years). We suggest that early music training sets the stage for subsequent interactions with sound. These experiences may interact over time to sustain sharpened neural processing in central auditory nuclei well into older age.