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In this research we have developed devices for hearing impaired people that can transmit the emotions evoked by music. In this way, we will all achieve the full inclusion of impairment people in all social activities. As this is an issue that goes beyond pure engineering research, it has been necessary to create a multidisciplinary group within the Spanish Centre for Captioning and Audio Description (CESyA), in direct collaboration with the Display and Photonic Applications Research Group (GDAF) and the Human Language and Accessibility Technologies Group (HULAT) of the Carlos III University (UC3M) and the Psychiatry and Applied Communication Departments of the Complutense University of Madrid. For this research, a pair of haptic gloves were developed, which transmit different characteristics extracted from music by means of vibrational sequences, intended to drive an emotional reinforcement. Another device, a "music box", a vibration box, was also developed from the idea of using vibration as an instrument. Overall, the acceptance of the glove was positive, with an 80% of users accepting the negative video, repeatedly stating in the surveys that they "felt more when the glove vibrated". The music box was also well received. Volunteers felt that the system gave them a pleasant sensation and that they could feel the music. However, some participants associated the vibration with the sensation of an alarm clock, which was expectedly negative. Considering the obtained EEG results, we can conclude that the integration of simple multimodal stimuli, visual and vibrotactile, helps to enhance the activation of emotional processes linked with musical stimulation. It can also be concluded that multimodal visual and vibrotactile stimulation enhances both attentional and emotional processes. These results pave the way for future developments that will allow a hearing-impaired person to fully enjoy an audiovisual event, which will have a great impact on this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the foundational principles of recent developments in evolutionary biology has been the acknowledgement of homeostasis as an organising principle of cellular development from unicellular origins. Fundamentally, this concerns the balance between the inside of a biological entity and its environment. Given that the organ of balance is the ear, and that the evolutionary provenance of the vestibular system can be traced back to fish, music provides a rich foundation for evolutionary biological inquiry. This paper considers a specific dimensional relationship in sonic experience between noise, signal, redundancy and anticipation. Drawing on the physics of Bohm and more recent developments in Rowlands's nilpotent quantum mechanics, I argue that the relationship between these four parameters is not only that they represent aspects of sonic experience, but that they are dimensionally distinct, where noise can be considered to be scalar, a signal (or a note) is a vector (having magnitude and direction), redundancy is bi-vectorial (involving degrees of repetition of signals over time), and anticipation is tri-vectorial (involving reflexive consideration of different orders of redundancy). In outlining the dimensional distinction between these variables, an analysis is presented which considers the relationship between the Shannon entropy of different dimensions in music. This shows that the entropy of noise has a particular bearing on the entropy of the other dimensions. This dimensional relation is also reflected in biological evidence, where Torday has shown there to be a direct correlation between the effect of gravitational "noise" on cellular communication, and by extension the evolution of consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • MMN measurements predict individual cochlear implant (CI) users' behavioral music perception. • MMN is detected in fewer CI users when sound deviants are of smaller magnitude. • New spike density component analysis method enables more accurate diagnostics than preceding state-of-the-art. Ninety percent of cochlear implant (CI) users are interested in improving their music perception. However, only few objective behavioral and neurophysiological tests have been developed for tracing the development of music discrimination skills in CI users. In this study, we aimed to obtain an accurate individual mismatch negativity (MMN) marker that could predict behavioral auditory discrimination thresholds. We measured the individual MMN response to four magnitudes of deviations in four different musical features (intensity, pitch, timbre, and rhythm) in a rare sample of experienced CI users and a control sample of normally hearing participants. We applied a recently developed spike density component analysis (SCA), which can suppress confounding alpha waves, and contrasted it with previously proposed methods. Statistically detected individual MMN predicted attentive sound discrimination ability with high accuracy: for CI users 89.2% (278/312 cases) and for controls 90.5% (384/424 cases). As expected, MMN was detected for fewer CI users when the sound deviants were of smaller magnitude. The findings support the use of MMN responses in individual CI users as a diagnostic tool for testing music perception. For CI users, the new SCA method provided more accurate and replicable diagnostic detections than preceding state-of-the-art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music has the ability to invest even the tritest scenes with so much meaning when added to them. Human perceptions of music and image can be closely related to each other, as both can incite similar sensations and emotions. Advertising agencies often make use of audio and music over their visuals to engage more audiences and to convey the emotions associated with their content more effectively. Matching visuals and music to comparable feelings might help people perceive emotions more vividly and strongly. This paper proposes an effective cross-modal neural network that provides music recommendations to a user by generating matches between images and music over a common emotional vector space. Using the valence and arousal values, a combined image-music pair dataset has been created. The images incorporated in this dataset are leveraged from the OASIS dataset while the music part is queried using Spotify API and YouTube. A Transfer Learning approach is proposed with Convolution Neural Network architecture for training on this dataset using MobileNetV3, ResNet-18 and EfficientNetB4 for the images and SampleCNN for the raw audio clips. For any given image input, a list of top-n music recommendations shall be outputted. This concept thus aims to generate music and image matching based on various deep hidden features over the emotion space of the two modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the development of output devices for round window middle-ear. To overcome the problems of output devices that apply sound pressure directly to the round window, an acoustic bellows-type round window transducer was implemented by combining a small bellows, acoustic tube, and balanced armature driver. The output characteristics of the proposed acoustic bellows-type round window transducer were confirmed through bench tests and distortion measurements. To compare the vibration transmission characteristics of the proposed transducer with those of sound pressure stimulation devices, an experiment was performed using four human temporal bones. The average output magnitude of the acoustic bellows-type round window transducer was equivalent to sound pressure levels of 92, 96, and 108 dB for frequency ranges of <1, 1–2, and > 2 kHz, respectively. The results showed that the proposed transducer delivered vibration consistently without reducing the sound pressure level due to leakage, unlike the sound pressure stimulation device. Therefore, the acoustic bellows-type round window transducer is a more stable and suitable output device for round window middle-ear implants than a sound pressure stimulation device. It is expected to overcome the limitations of sound pressure stimulation devices and to contribute to new technical solutions in the field of round window middle-ear implants development. • Middle ear implant uses mechanical vibration as output rather than air conduction • The idea is that more reliably apply sound pressure to round window • Output method of middle ear implant to make implantation surgery easier • Transducer of middle ear implant that uses air conduction but has sufficient output [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Harmony of beer-excerpt pairs was explained by stimuli sensory characteristics. • Pairs were more harmonious, preferred, and more familiar in the musical context. • Context influences consumer behavior and products evaluation. In everyday life, the environment that surrounds us plays a key role in perception and emotions. Environments can influence positively or negatively food perception and liking. However, very few studies have investigated the interaction between our five senses in specific contexts. The aim of the present study was to explore multisensory interactions in context using auditory and gustatory stimuli. A hundred and eleven participants were recruited and tested in one out of three different contexts: 1) laboratory condition, 2) in a bar context, and 3) in an auditorium (playing classical music). For the bar and auditorium context, the sessions took place in an immersive room. For each context, participants were asked to taste one beer while listening to a musical excerpt, and to rate liking, harmony, and familiarity of the beer-excerpt association. In addition, liking and familiarity of the beers and the excerpts were rated separately. Results showed that 1) the harmony evaluation of beer-excerpt pairs could be separately explained by the sensory characteristics of beers and the music; 2) Participants in the musical context evaluated the pairs differently: pairs were more harmonious, preferred and judged more familiar in the musical context than in the laboratory and the bar contexts. The present study helps understanding the sensory dominance of one sense over the other senses and gives insights for marketing research as it shows that context not only influences consumer behavior but also products evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies in the field of music generation have demonstrated impressive performance, yet virtually no models are able to directly generate music to match accompanying videos. In this work, we develop a generative music AI framework, Video2Music, that can match a provided video. We first curated a unique collection of music videos. Then, we analyzed the music videos to obtain semantic, scene offset, motion, and emotion features. These distinct features are then employed as guiding input to our music generation model. We transcribe the audio files into MIDI and chords, and extract features such as note density and loudness. This results in a rich multimodal dataset, called MuVi-Sync, on which we train a novel Affective Multimodal Transformer (AMT) model to generate music given a video. This model includes a novel mechanism to enforce affective similarity between video and music. Finally, post-processing is performed based on a biGRU-based regression model to estimate note density and loudness based on the video features. This ensures a dynamic rendering of the generated chords with varying rhythm and volume. In a thorough experiment, we show that our proposed framework can generate music that matches the video content in terms of emotion. The musical quality, along with the quality of music-video matching is confirmed in a user study. The proposed AMT model, along with the new MuVi-Sync dataset, presents a promising step for the new task of music generation for videos. [Display omitted] • Pioneering generative music AI model with video emotion matching. • New MuVi-Sync dataset with matched video and music features. • Video2Music framework with Affective Multimodal Transformer. • Post-processing to adjust music dynamics to sync with video. • Outperforms baseline in terms of Music Quality and Video Matching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Music at different beats per minute influenced eating behaviors and emotions. • Slow tempo music increased eating time, number of chews, and total chewing duration. • Subjects exposed to slow tempo music were calmer and more peaceful. • Gender appears to modulate the effect of musical tempo on emotions. • Correlations were highlighted between music tempo, emotions, and eating behaviors. Music has the power to influence mood and food-related behaviors, including taste perception, appetite and food choices. Among the many technical variables, music tempo is one of those that seem to influence eating behavior the most, affecting the speed of eating and drinking and meal duration. To further investigate this phenomenon, we developed an experiment aimed to understand how music at different beats per minute (BPM) affects eating behaviors and how emotions evoked by music interplay in this context. A total of 124 subjects participated in the study, randomly divided into two subgroups who listened to music at 145 BPM (fast tempo) and 85 BPM (slow tempo), respectively. The subjects' eating behaviors were studied by analyzing video recordings, by measuring leftovers, and by means of a questionnaire. Our study showed that subjects who listened to slow tempo music were more relaxed, spent more time eating, chewed more times and for longer than those who listened to fast tempo music, thus confirming the influence of musical tempo on eating behavior. In particular, this is the first study to report that slow tempo music may increase the number of chews and total chewing duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Musical pitch perception is closely related to phonological awareness and reading development in alphabetic languages. However, whether such a relation also exists in tonal languages such as Chinese remains unclear. Here, we examined the musical pitch—reading relations and the possible mediating effects of phonological awareness in a sample of typically-developing Chinese children followed from Grade 3 (age 9) to Grade 5 (age 11). Phonological awareness and reading (accuracy and fluency) were assessed at both time points. Musical pitch perception was examined with a passive oddball EEG paradigm and an active identification task at age 9. Results showed that neural musical pitch sensitivity (indexed by P3a latency) predicted reading accuracy at age 11 and its two-year development. Behavioral musical pitch sensitivity predicted reading fluency at both ages through the effects of phonological awareness. Together, our results reveal the effects of musical pitch processing on reading development at both behavioral and neural levels in Chinese. • Musical pitch perception is related to reading development in alphabetic languages. • We examine this relation in typically-developing Chinese school-age children. • Neural musical pitch sensitivity directly predicts later reading and its development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The objective of our study was to compare the response of autonomic system parameters (blood pressure, ECG, heart rate variability) in healthy subjects while listening to Indian classical music of different fractal qualities. • To quantify the complexity of a musical phrase we have used the Higuchi fractal dimension. • Indian classical music has the unique quality of slow transition betwen notes, with consequent changes in dimensions of the string being played, which we have quantified in the study. • 25 healthy volunteers were recruited, all between 18 and 35 years of age. The subjects were randomised into three groups: sinewave, low fractal music and high fractal music. • Electrocardiogram (ECG) and Non invasive BP (NIBP) leads were placed and continuous measurements started 10 min prior to intervention. At 0 min, the standardised musical intervention/ control was played. • During intervention, the fractal dimension of the BP waveform showed a significant difference between subjects of high fractal group and low fractal group. The Hurst exponent and sample entropy of the waveform was also measured. • In addition, the increment in heart rate variability during intervention showed an increasing trend from high to low fractal to sinewave. • Whether the changes are due to direct contact with source of music or through a cerebral mechanism can be ascertained by further studies. Music is an external stimulus that affects physiological systems; both the quality of music and the resultant physiological changes can be quantified, which presents an unique opportunity. To quantify the complexity of a musical phrase we have used the Higuchi fractal dimension. We then compared the response of autonomic system (blood pressure, ECG, heart rate variability) in healthy subjects while listening to Indian classical music of different fractal qualities. Indian classical music has the unique quality of slow transition between notes, with consequent changes in dimensions of the string being played, which we have quantified. 25 healthy volunteers were recruited, all 18–35 years of age; the subjects were randomised into three groups: sinewave, low fractal and high fractal, depending on the type of musical intervention. The subjects were placed in a quiet room and asked to perform deep breathing exercises for relaxation. Electrocardiogram (ECG) and Non invasive BP (NIBP) leads were placed and continuous measurements started 10 min prior to intervention. At 0 min, the standardised musical intervention/ control was played. During intervention, the fractal dimension of the BP waveform showed a significant difference between subjects of high fractal group and low fractal group. In addition, the increment in heart rate variability (measured by standard parameters) during intervention showed an increasing trend from high to low fractal to sinewave. Whether the changes are due to direct contact with source of music or through a cerebral mechanism can be ascertained by further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linguistic research showed that the depth of syntactic embedding is reflected in brain theta power. Here, we test whether this also extends to non-linguistic stimuli, specifically music. We used a hierarchical model of musical syntax to continuously quantify two types of expert-annotated harmonic dependencies throughout a piece of Western classical music: prolongation and preparation. Prolongations can roughly be understood as a musical analogue to linguistic coordination between constituents that share the same function (e.g., 'pizza' and 'pasta' in 'I ate pizza and pasta'). Preparation refers to the dependency between two harmonies whereby the first implies a resolution towards the second (e.g., dominant towards tonic; similar to how the adjective implies the presence of a noun in 'I like spicy ... '). Source reconstructed MEG data of sixty-five participants listening to the musical piece was then analysed. We used Bayesian Mixed Effects models to predict theta envelope in the brain, using the number of open prolongation and preparation dependencies as predictors whilst controlling for audio envelope. We observed that prolongation and preparation both carry independent and distinguishable predictive value for theta band fluctuation in key linguistic areas such as the Angular, Superior Temporal, and Heschl's Gyri, or their right-lateralised homologues, with preparation showing additional predictive value for areas associated with the reward system and prediction. Musical expertise further mediated these effects in language-related brain areas. Results show that predictions of precisely formalised music-theoretical models are reflected in the brain activity of listeners which furthers our understanding of the perception and cognition of musical structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Limited low frequency (LF) pitch and temporal fine structure (TFS) sensitivity have been thought to contribute significantly to poor music perception in cochlear implant (CI) listeners. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate music perception in relation to LF pitch perception and temporal coding, specifically in people with bimodal stimulation as a promising approach to improve spectro-temporal sensitivity in CI listeners.Methods: Eleven postlingually deafened bimodal listeners participated in the study (mean age=55.5 years, range 36-75 years, SD=11.7). LF pitch/TFS sensitivity was evaluated by using two recently developed tests: Harmonic Intonation (HI) and Disharmonic Intonation (DI). The music perception protocol was based on three audio files in the genres of Classical, Jazz and Soul music and a music quality questionnaire regarding four subjective aspects: Clarity, Pleasantness, Naturalness and General Quality of Sounds.Results: CI alone and bimodal findings showed statistically significant differences for both temporal coding and music perception. DI findings showed statistically significant correlations with music quality ratings (p<0.05).Conclusion: Bimodal music quality ratings were significantly better, indicating a significant improvement in the quality of music towards being significantly more clear, more natural, more pleasant, and better quality. Similarly, bimodal HI/DI findings improved significantly, although the amount of benefit was greater for the DI task with spectral information only below 300 Hz. Significant DI correlations with music quality ratings supported the test to be more indicative of better temporal coding of LF residual hearing and its effects on music perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Musical training improves performance in auditory cognitive tasks. • The neural basis of this effect has been explained as enhanced reactive functions. • These results have been confirmed and extended to anticipatory proactive brain function. • The advantage of musicians is early explained by modulation of anticipatory brain activity. • The affected regions are the prefrontal and auditory brain areas. Proactive and reactive brain activities usually refer to processes occurring in anticipation or in response to perceptual and/or cognitive events. Previous studies found that, in auditory tasks, musical expertise improves performance mainly at the reactive stage of processing. In the present work, we aimed at acknowledging the effects of musical practice on proactive brain activities as a result of neuroplasticity processes occurring at the level of anticipatory motor/cognitive functions. Accordingly, performance and electroencephalographic recordings were compared between professional musicians and non-musicians during an auditory go/no-go task. Both proactive (pre-stimulus) and reactive (post-stimulus) event-related potentials (ERPs) were analyzed. Behavioral findings showed improved performance in musicians compared to non-musicians in terms of accuracy. For what concerns electrophysiological results, different ERP patterns of activity both before and after the presentation of the auditory stimulus emerged between groups. Specifically, musicians showed increased proactive cognitive activity in prefrontal scalp areas, previously localized in the prefrontal cortex, and reduced anticipatory excitability in frontal scalp areas, previously localized in the associative auditory cortices (reflected by the pN and aP components, respectively). In the reactive stage of processing (i.e., following stimulus presentation), musicians showed enhanced early (N1) and late (P3) components, in line with longstanding literature of enhanced auditory processing in this group. Crucially, we also found a significant correlation between the N1 component and years of musical practice. We interpreted these findings in terms of neural plasticity processes resulting from musical training, which lead musicians to high efficiency in auditory sensorial anticipation and more intense cognitive control and sound analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Music genre affects driving speed as well as visual scanning of the environment. • No effect of music genre on acceleration/deceleration rate and lateral movement. • Musically more "aggressive" and faster songs increased driving errors. Recently, distractions have been recognized as a significant risk factor in road traffic. This simulator study aims to investigate how different music genres affect the driving behaviour of young drivers and their visual scanning of the environment in urban settings. The genres considered were Croatian pop, foreign pop, classical music, metal, and Balkan folk music, while on one road section there was no music. The research sample consisted of 61 participants (44 males and 17 females) with a mean age of 24.58 years and a mean driving experience of 5.25 years. The influence of music on the drivers' behaviour was analysed on the basis of the data collected from the driving simulator, eye tracking glasses, and structured observation during driving sessions. It was found that the highest average speed (around 60 km/h) was recorded while the participants were listening to Balkan folk and metal music, while other music genres, as well as the "no music" condition, influenced driving speed in a similar way to one another and the participants drove at 50 km/h on average. Furthermore, the results suggest that the music genre also affects how drivers visually scan the environment (the number of gazes classified as fixations and number of road signs looked at). The findings obtained may be used in road safety work and practical recommendations and further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The study seeks to validate the positive impacts of musical instruction on mathematical competence and explore the role of mathematical creativity in this connection. • The results revealed a moderate and positive correlation between mathematical creativity and mathematical competence. However, the data reveals that some students with high mathematical creativity achieve low academic performance, and vice versa. • Students with musical training in the conservatory not only achieve higher scores in the mathematical competence test but also in the mathematical creativity test, even after taking into account the effect of higher performance. • Our findings indicate that training in a specific domain can exert influence on creativity in unrelated domains. Studies generally affirm a positive association between musical instruction and mathematics performance, although conflicting views persist. No prior study has been found examining the potential impact of music training on mathematical creativity and limited research has addressed the relationship between this instruction and overall creativity. This study aims to validate the positive effects of musical training on mathematical performance and explores the role of mathematical creativity in this relationship, addressing a research gap. For this purpose, 220 students of the third year of compulsory secondary-school education (62 of whom combined compulsory education with musical studies at the conservatory) underwent two tests to assess their mathematical creativity and academic performance in mathematics. The results revealed that the percentage of students with high mathematical creativity is relatively small (5.9 % of the participants). Besides, a moderate and positive correlation (r = 0.504) between both variables was found. However, in some cases, there was a lack of association between the scores of the two tests suggests diverse educational implications, as the presence of mathematically creative students whose potential may remain hidden due to average academic performance in this discipline. Furthermore, students who received musical training demonstrated greater mathematical creativity, even after considering the effect of higher academic performance in mathematics, suggesting that musical instruction enhances creativity in the domain of mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We investigated the influence of duration, pitch, and intensity on stress judgments. • A mega-study approach was used, yielding nearly 75,000 analysable responses. • Duration, pitch, and intensity influenced stress judgments. • The importance of any one cue depended on the value of the others. • Listeners often used the same acoustic information differently to judge stress. Stress is an important property of English spoken words. Research conducted over the past 70 years has sought to determine how acoustic cues, including duration, pitch, and intensity influence stress perception; however, the evidence remains conflicting. In the present study, we used a large dataset of 10 speakers' productions of disyllabic nonwords to investigate how listeners make use of these cues to perceive stress. Over 100 listeners made stress judgements on nearly one thousand items each, yielding a total of nearly 75,000 analysable responses. Results of average performance showed that stress judgments were influenced by all three cues, both individually and in combination. However, the relative importance of any one cue depended on the value of the other cues, particularly in the frequent situations in which cues offered conflicting stress information. Results of individual performance showed that listeners often use the same acoustic information regarding stress in different ways, but that speakers also sometimes offer different information about stress. Our mega-study approach to investigating word-stress perception eclipses previous studies in terms of its power, and offers new insights into our understanding of how listeners perceive stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Musical Ear Syndrome (MES) is an uncommon phenomenon described as the perception of auditory musical sensations not corresponding to any external stimulus. It seems to be more frequent in case of profound hearing loss. Our objective was to evaluate prevalence, characteristics and risk factors in a population of cochlear implant patients. A retrospective study was conducted in cochlear implant patients, who were adult (> 18 years) in 2020 and underwent cochlear implantation between 1993 and 2019. We analyzed the presence and characteristics of MES. 118 of the 358 patients (33%) perceived or had perceived auditory musical sensations: 71 (19.8%) before, 100 (28%) after, and 53 (14.8%) both before and after implantation. The musical auditory sensations were usually short and well-tolerated, resembling instrumental music, and occurring several times a day. Thirteen patients (11%) considered them intolerable. Fatigue was a triggering factor in 40 patients (33.9%). Personal and medical characteristics, type of implantation, make of implant, etiology and tinnitus did not emerge as risk factors. On the other hand, MES+ patients were significatively younger (56 ± 17.4 years versus 61.9 ± 17.9 years; P = 0.0009). Despite the phenomenon, patients were satisfied with implant functioning and subjective auditory performance was not affected. Prevalence of Musical Ear Syndrome was high in cochlear implant patients, and especially in younger subjects. It is essential to improve knowledge of this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beat perception offers cognitive scientists an exciting opportunity to explore how cognition and action are intertwined in the brain even in the absence of movement. Many believe the motor system predicts the timing of beats, yet current models of beat perception do not specify how this is neurally implemented. Drawing on recent insights into the neurocomputational properties of the motor system, we propose that beat anticipation relies on action-like processes consisting of precisely patterned neural time-keeping activity in the supplementary motor area (SMA), orchestrated and sequenced by activity in the dorsal striatum. In addition to synthesizing recent advances in cognitive science and motor neuroscience, our framework provides testable predictions to guide future work. Components of the brain's motor system are activated by the perception of a musical beat, even in the absence of movement, and may play an important role in beat-based temporal prediction. Two key brain regions involved in movement, the supplementary motor area (SMA) and dorsal striatum, have neurocomputational properties that lend themselves to beat perception. In SMA, neural firing rates represent the phase of cyclic sensorimotor processes. The involvement of SMA in perceptual suppression of self-generated sounds suggests that it could play a broader role in informing auditory expectations. The dorsal striatum plays a central role in initiating and sequencing units of movement, and may serve similar functions in structuring beat-based temporal anticipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voice pitch is the primary perceptual correlate of fundamental frequency (f o) and describes how low or high a voice is perceived by listeners. Prior research showed that men whose habitual voice pitch is lower are perceived to have stronger fighting ability. However, voice pitch is also flexible and can thus be used facultatively to signal states that change situationally, such as current aggressive intent (i.e., readiness to use aggression). Drawing on motivation-structural-rules theory, this research tests the hypothesis that male speakers will be perceived as more likely to attack when they lower (compared to raise) their pitch to address an adversary in a conflict situation. Three experiments using male speakers and listeners supported this hypothesis, both with and without controlling for the perception of the speakers' fighting ability. In contrast, the same experiments found no evidence that pitch lowering enhanced the speakers' perceived fighting ability after controlling for their perceived aggressive intent. Moreover, we found mixed evidence that the speakers' perceived physical strength interacted with pitch modulation to influence their perceived aggressive intent. On balance, these findings show that, at least for men, pitch modulation is primarily an aggressive-intent signal assessed independently of signalers' fighting ability. Future research should distinguish between perceptions of aggressive-intent and fighting-ability when examining the perceptual effects of male voice-pitch modulation in intrasexual competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The effect of different auditory stimuli on short-term memory was examined (presence/absence of music/music genres). • The role of the gender was also examined. • Short-term memory was examined via a standard test for word recollection, while the sample consisted of 168 students. • Gender as a single parameter was noted to be playing a significant role in the recall process (females outperformed males). • Music as a stimulus was also found to affect the recall process significantly, but negatively, regardless of the genre. The purpose of the present research was to examine whether different music settings could influence one's cognitive function – particularly memory. The examined sample consisted of 168 college students with a male:female ratio of 1:2.2. The participants were asked to complete a short-term memory test regarding word recollection while exposed to auditory stimuli. They were divided into three groups, each experiencing very different auditory stimuli (classical music; heavy metal music; no music). The results indicated that gender (as a single parameter) played a significant role in the recall process, with female subjects achieving significantly higher scores than males (p -value = 0.006). Music as an external stimulus was also found to affect the recall process significantly (0.02 < p < 0.04). Gender did not present any statistically significant association with specific music genres although, based on the limitations of this study, findings are in need of further exploration. The results of the present study may direct forthcoming research to address this issue further by examining additional variables as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Perception of a piano melody by trained pianists causes wider cortical activation. • Piano playing more strongly activates visual motion areas in trained pianists. • Motion-related increased activation on the left is correlated with piano training. • Expanded cortical representation is likely due to experience-dependent plasticity. Training of a musical skill is known to produce a distributed neural representation of the ability to perceive music and perform musical tasks. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that the audiovisual perception of music involves a wider activation of multimodal sensory and sensorimotor structures in the brain, including those containing mirror neurons. We mapped the activation of brain areas during passive listening and viewing of the first 40 s of "Ode to Joy" being played on the piano by an expert pianist. To do this we performed brain functional magnetic resonance imaging during the presentation of 6 different stimulus contrasts pertaining to that musical melody in a pseudo-randomized order. Group data analysis in musically trained and untrained adults showed robust activation in broadly distributed occipitotemporal, parietal and frontal areas in trained subjects and much restricted activation in untrained subjects. A visual stimulus contrast focusing on the visual motion percept of moving fingers on piano keys revealed selective bilateral activation of a locus corresponding to the V5/MT area, which was significantly more pronounced in trained subjects and showed partial linear dependence on the duration of training on the left side. Quantitative analysis of individual brain volumes confirmed a significantly greater and wider spread of activation in trained compared to untrained subjects. These findings support the view that audiovisual perception of music and musical gestures in trained musicians involves an expanded and widely distributed neural representation formed due to experience-dependent plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music recommendation is a prominent application of recommender systems, which has been attracting more and more attentions. There are two research streams of music recommender systems: one is static recommendation based on learning user's preference according to historical data, and the other is dynamic recommendation considering user's feedback. But the individual music preference for a certain moment is closely related to personal experience of the music and music literacy, as well as temporal scenario with diversity. Thus, it's necessary to design a new music recommendation framework by integrating static recommendation and dynamic recommendation. Therefore, we propose a novel approach for music recommendation HRRS (Humming-Query and Reinforcement-Learning based Recommender Systems) by integrating prior two research streams. This novel recommendation framework HRRS based on humming query and reinforcement learning is learning and adapting to user's current preference continually by collecting interactive data in real time. This preliminary recommendation framework captures song characters, personal dynamic preferences, and yields a better listening experience with proper interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent evidence suggests that biomechanical parameters of the brain, such as Brain Tissue Pulsatility (BTP), could be involved in emotional reactivity. However, no study has investigated the impact of an emotional task on BTP. We used the ultrasound method of Tissue Pulsatility Imaging (TPI) to assess changes in BTP to exciting and relaxing classical music, in a musical perception task, as a validated paradigm to assess emotional reactivity. 25 healthy volunteers were exposed via earphones to four 5-minute musical excerpts (two exciting and two relaxing musical excerpts) presented in a randomized order and intersected by 5 silence periods. Measures of BTP, Heart Rate (HR) and Skin Conductance (SC) were collected during the entire task. The BTP significantly decreased with relaxing music compared to silence, and especially with the excerpt 'Entrance of the Shades' by Minkus. The HR and SC, but not Heart Rate Variability, were also decreased with relaxing music. We found no significant effect of exciting music. We report, for the first time, that classical relaxing music decreases the amplitude of the brain pulsatile movements related to cerebral blood flow and mechanical properties of the brain parenchyma, which provides further evidence of the involvement of BTP in emotional reactivity. In addition, we validate the use of TPI as a non-invasive, portable and low cost tool for studies in psychophysiology, with the potential to be implemented as a biomarker in musicotherapy trials notably. • We investigated changes in Brain Tissue Pulsatility with exciting and relaxing music. • Brain Tissue Pulsatility decreased with relaxing music compared to silence. • Parameters of the Autonomous Nervous System also decreased with relaxing music. • Tissue Pulsatility Imaging could constitute a biomarker of brain reactivity to music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Sound-related suppression of 8–10 Hz spontaneous brain rhythm (tau rhythm) was bilaterally observed in temporal areas. • This suppression significantly differed in the right hemisphere depending on the emotional valence of the sounds. • It is likely that tau rhythm can be detected when alpha rhythm is suppressed due to drowsiness. • Future studies on tau-rhythm function should standardize the vigilance of participants. Spontaneous 8- to 10-Hz "tau-rhythm" in magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings has been reported to originate in the auditory cortex and be suppressed by sound. For unknown reasons however, tau-rhythm is often difficult to detect. In this study, we sought to characterize its emergence and auditory reactivity. Using a 306-channel MEG on 26 right-handed participants, we delivered six-second-long, natural, monaural sounds with pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral emotional valence. In eight participants, a clear, sound-related bilateral suppression of 8–10 Hz tau-rhythm occurred in the temporal areas, close to the source of the 100-ms auditory response. Moreover, these eight "tau subjects" exhibited significantly larger temporal-lobe theta-band (4–8 Hz) power over the entire experimental period compared to the remaining 18 "non-tau subjects". As it is known that larger theta power is one of signs of drowsiness, this result is consistent with a previously proposed idea that tau-rhythm emerges during drowsiness. Tau-rhythm was furthermore significantly affected by emotional valence in the right hemisphere, where it was respectively suppressed by unpleasant and neutral sounds 8% and 6% more than by pleasant sounds, significantly. Altogether, our results reveal characteristics of tau-rhythm appearance and modulation which have hitherto been difficult to detect non-invasively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From auditory perception to general cognition, the ability to play a musical instrument has been associated with skills both related and unrelated to music. However, it is unclear if these effects are bound to the specific characteristics of musical instrument training, as little attention has been paid to other populations such as audio engineers and designers whose auditory expertise may match or surpass that of musicians in specific auditory tasks or more naturalistic acoustic scenarios. We explored this possibility by comparing students of audio engineering (n = 20) to matched conservatory-trained instrumentalists (n = 24) and to naive controls (n = 20) on measures of auditory discrimination, auditory scene analysis, and speech in noise perception. We found that audio engineers and performing musicians had generally lower psychophysical thresholds than controls, with pitch perception showing the largest effect size. Compared to controls, audio engineers could better memorise and recall auditory scenes composed of non-musical sounds, whereas instrumental musicians performed best in a sustained selective attention task with two competing streams of tones. Finally, in a diotic speech-in-babble task, musicians showed lower signal-to-noise-ratio thresholds than both controls and engineers; however, a follow-up online study did not replicate this musician advantage. We also observed differences in personality that might account for group-based self-selection biases. Overall, we showed that investigating a wider range of forms of auditory expertise can help us corroborate (or challenge) the specificity of the advantages previously associated with musical instrument training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Principal themes, particularly choruses in pop songs, hold a central place in human music. Singing along with a familiar chorus tends to elicit pleasure and a sense of belonging, especially in group settings. These principal themes, which frequently serve as musical rewards, are commonly preceded by distinctive musical cues. Such cues guide listeners' attention and amplify their motivation to receive the impending themes. Despite the significance of cue-theme sequences in music, the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of these sequences in unfamiliar songs remain underexplored. To fill this research gap, we employed fMRI to examine neural activity during the cued anticipation of unfamiliar musical themes and the subsequent receipt of their opening phrase. Twenty-three Taiwanese participants underwent fMRI scans while listening to excerpts of Korean slow pop songs unfamiliar to them, with lyrics they could not understand. Our findings revealed distinct temporal dynamics in lateral frontal activity, with posterior regions being more active during theme anticipation and anterior regions during theme receipt. During anticipation, participants reported substantial increases in arousal levels, aligning with the observed enhanced activity in the midbrain, ventral striatum, inferior frontal junction, and premotor regions. We posit that when motivational musical cues are detected, the ventral striatum and inferior frontal junction played a role in attention allocation, while premotor regions may be engaged in monitoring the theme's entry. Notably, both the anticipation and receipt of themes were associated with pronounced activity in the frontal eye field, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, dorsal caudate, and salience network. Overall, our results highlight that within a naturalistic music-listening context, the dynamic interplay between the frontoparietal, dopaminergic midbrain-striatal, and salience networks could allow for precise adjustments of control demands based on the cue-theme structure in unfamiliar songs. • The dorsal caudate and salient network responded to anticipation and receipt of musical themes in unfamiliar pop songs. • The midbrain, ventral striatum, premotor cortex, and inferior frontal junction responded to anticipation of themes. • The anterior lateral prefrontal cortex responded to receipt of themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Musicians have a higher risk of noise exposure based on objective & subjective data. • Despite risk of noise exposure, musicians had enhanced cochlear function. • Active musicians showed similar function to those who previously trained. • Different sampling methods of musicians may explain discrepancies in the literature. Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) are a non-invasive metric of cochlear function. Studies of OAEs in musicians have yielded mixed results, ranging from evidence of diminished OAEs in musicians—suggesting noise-induced hearing loss—to no difference when compared to non-musicians, or even a trend for stronger OAEs in musicians. The goal of this study was to use a large sample of college students with normal hearing (n = 160) to compare OAE SNRs in musicians and non-musicians and to explore potential effects of training recency and noise exposure on OAEs in these cohorts. The musician cohort included both active musicians (who at the time of enrollment practiced at least weekly) and past musicians (who had at least 6 years of training). All participants completed a questionnaire about recent noise exposure (previous 12 months), and a subset of participants (71 musicians and 15 non-musicians) wore a personal noise dosimeter for one week to obtain a more nuanced and objective measure of exposure to assess how different exposure levels may affect OAEs before the emergence of a clinically significant hearing loss. OAEs were tested using both transient-evoked OAEs (TEOAEs) and distortion-product OAEs (DPOAEs). As predicted from the literature, musicians experienced significantly higher noise levels than non-musicians based on both subjective (self-reported) and objective measures. Yet we found stronger TEOAEs and DPOAEs in musicians compared to non-musicians in the ∼1–5 kHz range. Comparisons between past and active musicians suggest that enhanced cochlear function in young adult musicians does not require active, ongoing musical practice. Although there were no significant relations between OAEs and noise exposure as measured by dosimetry or questionnaire, active musicians had weaker DPOAEs than past musicians when the entire DPOAE frequency range was considered (up to ∼16 kHz), consistent with a subclinical noise-induced hearing loss that only becomes apparent when active musicians are contrasted with a cohort of individuals with comparable training but without the ongoing risks of noise exposure. Our findings suggest, therefore, that separate norms should be developed for musicians for earlier detection of incipient hearing loss. Potential explanations for enhanced cochlear function in musicians include pre-existing (inborn or demographic) differences, training-related enhancements of cochlear function (e.g., upregulation of prestin, stronger efferent feedback mechanisms), or a combination thereof. Further studies are needed to determine if OAE enhancements offer musicians protection against damage caused by noise exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pleasure in music has been linked to predictive coding of melodic and rhythmic patterns, subserved by connectivity between regions in the brain's auditory and reward networks. Specific musical anhedonics derive little pleasure from music and have altered auditory-reward connectivity, but no difficulties with music perception abilities and no generalized physical anhedonia. Recent research suggests that specific musical anhedonics experience pleasure in nonmusical sounds, suggesting that the implicated brain pathways may be specific to music reward. However, this work used sounds with clear real-world sources (e.g., babies laughing, crowds cheering), so positive hedonic responses could be based on the referents of these sounds rather than the sounds themselves. We presented specific musical anhedonics and matched controls with isolated short pleasing and displeasing synthesized sounds of varying timbres with no clear real-world referents. While the two groups found displeasing sounds equally displeasing, the musical anhedonics gave substantially lower pleasure ratings to the pleasing sounds, indicating that their sonic anhedonia is not limited to musical rhythms and melodies. Furthermore, across a large sample of participants, mean pleasure ratings for pleasing synthesized sounds predicted significant and similar variance in six dimensions of musical reward considered to be relatively independent, suggesting that pleasure in sonic timbres play a role in eliciting reward-related responses to music. We replicate the earlier findings of preserved pleasure ratings for semantically referential sounds in musical anhedonics and find that pleasure ratings of semantic referents, when presented without sounds, correlated with ratings for the sounds themselves. This association was stronger in musical anhedonics than in controls, suggesting the use of semantic knowledge as a compensatory mechanism for affective sound processing. Our results indicate that specific musical anhedonia is not entirely specific to melodic and rhythmic processing, and suggest that timbre merits further research as a source of pleasure in music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Interpersonal rhythmic interaction is a fundamental social behavior. • fMRI was used to measure brain activity during an alternating drum-hitting task. • Most participants preferred the condition in which their hitting pace was copied. • The sense of being followed activates reward-related brain regions. • Being a leader in a rhythmic interaction task might be pleasant for humans. Interpersonal rhythmic interaction is one of the fundamental behaviors that allow humans to socially interact with others. In this study, we provide novel neuroimaging evidence that being followed by other agents in such an interaction is pleasant for humans. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured the brain activity of 17 participants while they performed a virtual drum-hitting task, in one of the following conditions: a) alternating with a virtual agent that would always copy their hitting pace, or b) alternating with a virtual agent that would randomly hit the drum. The participants reported a significantly higher subjective feeling of being followed by the agent in the first condition. Moreover, almost all participants preferred the agent that followed their drum-hitting rhythm. The activity of the caudate nucleus, which is one of the reward-related brain structures, was found to be associated with the subjective feeling of being followed, suggesting that the sense of being the leader, in an interpersonal rhythmic interaction, creates a pleasant feeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research indicates that favorite music can induce chills and alters physiological reactions. People frequently listen to music when they drink alcohol, for example in bars or discotheques. Alcohol has numerous effects on emotions, peripheral physiological and neural reactions. We investigated whether alcohol intake influences chill experiences and physiological reactions during music listening. 39 participants took part in the study and were tested twice: Once in a sober condition and once when they had drunken alcohol. Participants listened to two pieces of music in each of the two conditions: A favorite self-selected song and a control-song that was selected by the research group. Participants had to indicate when they experienced a chill and electrodermal activity and heart rate were measured during music listening. In addition, participants filled out questionnaires concerning the big five personality dimensions, music listening habits and general chill experiences. Results indicate that participants experienced most chills when they were sober and listened to their self-selected song. Electrodermal activity was highest when participants were sober. In addition, alcohol intake led to a dedifferentiation in heart rate activity. After alcohol intake, participants had similar heart rates, no matter whether they listened to their self-selected song or to the control-song. Extraversion was negatively related with physiological reactions, while openness to experiences was positively related with physiological reactions. Music listening habits also showed various relationships with chill experiences and physiological reactions, while general chill experiences did not. We conclude that alcohol intake reduces subjective chill experiences during music listening and alters the physiological reactions to music. Music listening habits and personality seem to influence these effects. • Alcohol consumption reduces chill experiences during music listening. • Alcohol consumption reduces electrodermal reactions during music listening. • Alcohol consumption leads to a dedifferentiation of cardiovascular responses during music listening. • Music listening habits and personality are related with chill experiences and physiological reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated Scoring is a developing technology. The accuracy and reliability of these systems have been proven to be much higher. Besides being a time-and money-saver, there are a number of studies which are being conducted to provide variety in feedback, not only on grammatical issues, but also on semantic related issues. This will reduce not only the paper load of the teachers, but as well as teachers' assessment related issues. In this paper, we remove those dummy note bins, thereby having 183 dimensions in total. We augmented the input by concatenating it with the first-order difference of the semitone filtered spectrogram. We observed a significant increase of the transcription performance with this addition. Compared to feedforward neural networks, recurrent neural network (RNN) are capable of learning temporal dependency of sequential data, which is the property found in music answer scoring.Also, the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) unit has a memory block updated only when an input or forget gate is open, and the gradients can propagate through memory cells without being multiplied each time step. Throughout backward and forward layers together, the networks can access to both history and future of the given time frame. Comparative analyses show that the proposed technique outperforms existing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have reported better speech-in-noise (SIN) recognition in musicians relative to nonmusicians while others have failed to observe this "musician SIN advantage." Here, we aimed to clarify equivocal findings and determine the most relevant perceptual and cognitive factors that do and do not account for musicians' benefits in SIN processing. We measured behavioral performance in musicians and nonmusicians on a battery of SIN recognition, auditory backward masking (a marker of attention), fluid intelligence (IQ), and working memory tasks. We found that musicians outperformed nonmusicians in SIN recognition but also demonstrated better performance in IQ, working memory, and attention. SIN advantages were restricted to more complex speech tasks featuring sentence-level recognition with speech-on-speech masking (i.e., QuickSIN) whereas no group differences were observed in non-speech simultaneous (noise-on-tone) masking. This suggests musicians' advantage is limited to cases where the noise interference is linguistic in nature. Correlations showed SIN scores were associated with working memory, reinforcing the importance of general cognition to degraded speech perception. Lastly, listeners' years of music training predicted auditory attention scores, working memory skills, general fluid intelligence, and SIN perception (i.e., QuickSIN scores), implying that extensive musical training enhances perceptual and cognitive skills. Overall, our results suggest (i) enhanced SIN recognition in musicians is due to improved parsing of competing linguistic signals rather than signal-in-noise extraction, per se, and (ii) cognitive factors (working memory, attention, IQ) at least partially drive musicians' SIN advantages. • Measured potential musician advantages in degraded speech/non-speech recognition tasks. • Also assessed cognitive skills (working memory, IQ) and relation to SIN. • Musicians' advantaged in QuickSIN but not non-speech (noise-on-tone) masking. • WM and IQ enhanced in musicians and predicted SIN performance. • Musicians' better SIN due to improved cognition and less linguistic interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Research has suggested that differences in personality traits among western musicians, in comparison to the general population, may be related to gender. For example, studies suggest male classical musicians are more introverted than popular musicians, though female musicians may be more extroverted than population norms. Contemporary musical learning can be formal and/or informal, and changes in music education may have impacted upon traditional gender-based stereotypes. This study investigated similarities and differences between formal/informal musical learning, gender and musicians' personalities. The sample included 275 musicians (87 female, mean age 40.2 years, range 19–81, learning duration > 6 years). The participants were either self-taught (n = 74), formally taught (n = 62), or a mixture of the two (n = 139). A comparison of two brief inventories (TIPI and BFI-10) provided reliability and validity. Contrary to previous research, no gender differences were found for the trait of Extraversion. Group differences according to formal/informal learning styles were apparent. Higher levels of Conscientiousness were associated with formal music learning. Overall musicians had higher levels of Openness to Experience than population norms. Further research will be required to understand whether this is an artifact of access and provision to music education, or a systematic personality difference among musicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • English 14-month-olds map some non-native pitch contours to objects, but not others. • The acoustic distinctiveness of pitch contour labels does not drive word learning. • Infants only demonstrate learning if one of the labels has a rising pitch contour. • English-learners may initially over-interpret rising pitch in object-label mapping. Abstract Infants show interesting patterns of flexibility and constraint early in word learning. Here, we explore perceptual and experiential factors that drive associative learning of labels that differ in pitch contour. Contrary to the salience hypothesis proposed in Experiment 1, English-learning 14-month-olds failed to map acoustically distinctive level and dipping labels to novel referents, even though they discriminated the labels when no potential referents were present. Conversely, infants readily mapped the less distinctive rising and dipping labels. In Experiment 2, we found that the degree of pitch variation in labels also does not account for learning. Instead, English-learning infants only learned if one of the labels had a rising pitch contour. We argue that experience with hearing and/or producing native language prosody may lead infants to initially over-interpret the role rising pitch plays in differentiating words. Together, our findings suggest that multiple factors contribute to whether specific acoustic forms will function as candidate object labels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Low motivation is a core symptom of schizophrenia which significantly impacts successful engagement in and benefit from psychosocial treatments. Therefore, it is important for clinicians to design psychosocial treatments to effectively motivate and engage patients during the treatment. The MUSIC® Model of Academic Motivation Inventory (MMI) is an 18-item instrument with five scales that assess students' motivation during academic tasks. The objective of the current study was to validate the MMI for use with schizophrenia-spectrum patients undergoing cognitive training.Methods: Participants included 181 people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders enrolled in cognitive training in four countries. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) assessed construct validity. Quality of fit was determined using the Comparative Fit Index (CFI), the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR), and the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). Pearson's correlation coefficients assessed construct validity and Cronbach's alphas assessed reliability. Furthermore, we examined factor loadings for each inventory item and assessed predictive validity by analyzing MMI scales with attendance outcomes.Results: Consistent with the original MMI validation studies used in academic settings, we found CFI values indicated a good fit, as did the SRMR and RMSEA values. The scales were correlated yet distinct. Cronbach's alpha values ranged from good to excellent and factor loadings showed that all items loaded very well onto their intended factors. The MMI had a positive relationship to treatment intensity.Conclusion: The MMI is a valid and reliable tool to use with individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders undergoing a cognitive training intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Tonality-changed melodies were associated with increased activation of the left vlPFC and left superior temporal pole. • Left vlPFC might underpin the cognitive control for retrieving the pitch-naming rule. • Left superior temporal pole might integrate the melodic/harmonic context and emotional meanings of music. Abstract In human music, the tonality (key) may change to punctuate sectional structures and to produce emotional effects. A tonality change would sound "smoother" when it is supported by appropriate harmony. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined the neural substrates of the processing of tonality change. We used a 2 × 2 factorial design with factors tonality change (tonality changed versus tonality unchanged) and harmonization (harmonized versus unharmonized). Participants were asked to covertly sing the pitch names in the movable- do system along with the heard melody. Repetitions of this melody were associated with or without a tonality change, with equal probability in a pseudo-random order. Our result demonstrated that tonality changes elicited increased activation in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and left temporal pole. When a tonality change occurred, the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex might underpin the cognitive control for retrieving the pitch-naming rule of the new tonality, whereas the left temporal pole might integrate the melodic/harmonic context and emotional meanings of music. This study provides a new insight into the cognitive and emotional processing of music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Studies of developmental prosopagnosia have often shown that developmental prosopagnosia differentially affects human face processing over non-face object processing. However, little consideration has been given to whether this condition is associated with perceptual or sensorimotor impairments in other modalities. Comorbidities have played a role in theories of other developmental disorders such as dyslexia, but studies of developmental prosopagnosia have often focused on the nature of the visual recognition impairment despite evidence for widespread neural anomalies that might affect other sensorimotor systems. We studied 12 subjects with developmental prosopagnosia with a battery of auditory tests evaluating pitch and rhythm processing as well as voice perception and recognition. Overall, three subjects were impaired in fine pitch discrimination, a prevalence of 25% that is higher than the estimated 4% prevalence of congenital amusia in the general population. This was a selective deficit, as rhythm perception was unaffected in all 12 subjects. Furthermore, two of the three prosopagnosic subjects who were impaired in pitch discrimination had intact voice perception and recognition, while two of the remaining nine subjects had impaired voice recognition but intact pitch perception. These results indicate that, in some subjects with developmental prosopagnosia, the face recognition deficit is not an isolated impairment but is associated with deficits in other domains, such as auditory perception. These deficits may form part of a broader syndrome which could be due to distributed microstructural anomalies in various brain networks, possibly with a common theme of right hemispheric predominance. Highlights • Some prosopagnosic subjects showed deficits in pitch processing relative to controls. • Individually, 25% of the prosopagnosia sample scored in the tone deaf range. • These subjects were impaired in pitch processing, but not rhythm. • Face recognition ability significantly predicted pitch processing ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the primary purpose of cochlear implant (CI) fitting is to improve individuals' receptive and expressive skills, musical emotion perception (MEP) is generally ignored. This study assesses the MEP and language skills (LS) of children using CI. 26 CI users and 26 matched healthy controls between the ages of 6 and 9 were included in the study. The Test of Language Development (TOLD) was applied to evaluate the LS of the participants, and the Montreal Emotion Identification Test (MEI) was applied to evaluate the MEP. MEI test scores and all subtests of TOLD were statistically significantly lower in the CI group. Also, there was a statistically significant and moderate correlation between the listening subtest of TOLD and the MEI test. MEP and language skills are poor in children with CI. Although language skills are primarily targeted in CI performance, improving MEP should also be included in rehabilitation programs. The relationship between music and the TOLD's listening subtest may provide evidence that listening skills can be improved by paying attention to the MEP, which is frequently ignored in rehabilitation programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Prosody perception is positively correlated with musical abilities across studies. • Correlations are larger for non-native prosody perception than L1 prosody perception. • Prosody perception more strongly relates to music perception than to music training. Previous research has suggested a relationship between musical abilities and the perception of speech prosody. However, effect sizes and significance differ across studies. In a meta-analysis, we assessed the overall size of this relation across 109 studies and investigated which factors moderated the effect. We found a significant, medium-sized positive correlation between musical abilities and speech prosody perception. This correlation was larger for studies on non-native compared to native prosody perception. We attribute this difference to ceiling performance in native perception, while non-native perception may be more difficult and can thus be facilitated by musical abilities. In addition, prosody perception was more strongly correlated with music perception than with music training, possibly because training metrics disregard untrained individuals with naturally strong musical abilities. Further analyses showed a stronger correlation for prosodic pitch compared to prosodic timing perception, and a stronger correlation for behavioural accuracy measures compared to reaction times. We did not find differences in effects between linguistic and emotional prosody, between L1 tone language users or non-tone language users, or between adults and children. This meta-analysis generally supports theories proposing a connection between music and speech prosody. Furthermore, this study highlights the potential importance of individuals' musical abilities for the acquisition of second language prosody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans make predictions about future events in many domains, including when they listen to music. Previous accounts of harmonic expectation in music have emphasised the role of implicit musical knowledge acquired in the long term through the mechanism of statistical learning. However, it is not known whether listeners can adapt their expectations for unusual harmonies in the short term through repetition priming, and whether the extent of any short-term adaptation depends on the unfolding statistical structure of the music. To explore these possibilities, we presented 150 participants with phrases from Bach chorales that ended with a cadence that was either a priori likely or unlikely based on the long-term statistical structure of the corpus of chorales. While holding the 50–50 incidence of likely vs. unlikely cadences constant, we manipulated the order in which these phrases were presented such that the local probability of hearing an unlikely cadence changed throughout the experiment. For each phrase, participants provided two judgements: (a) a prospective rating of how confident they were in their expectations for the cadence, and (b) a retrospective rating of how well the presented cadence matched their expectations. While confidence ratings increased over the course of the experiment, the rate of change decreased as the local probability of an unexpected cadence increased. Participants' expectations favoured likely cadences over unlikely cadences on average, but their expectation ratings for unlikely cadences increased at a faster rate over the course of the experiment than for likely cadences, particularly when the local probability of hearing an unlikely cadence was high. Thus, despite entrenched long-term statistics about cadences, listeners can indeed adapt to unusual musical harmonies and are sensitive to the local statistical structure of the musical environment. We suggest that this adaptation is an instance of Bayesian belief updating, a domain-general process that accounts for expectation adaptation in multiple domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The influence of music on taste sensitivity was examined. • A "high sweetness" soundtrack led to higher sweet taste recognition at near-threshold. • No overall differences were observed in detection and recognition thresholds. • The crossmodal influence of music depends on the parameter of taste function. Previous research has shown that music can influence taste perception. While most studies to date have focused on taste intensity ratings, less is known about the influence of musical stimuli on other parameters of taste function. In this within-subjects experiment (N = 73), we tested the effects of three sound conditions (High Sweetness soundtrack – HS; Low Sweetness soundtrack – LS; and Silence – S) on sweet taste sensitivity, namely, detection and recognition. Each participant tasted nine samples of sucrose solutions (from 0 g/L to 20 g/L) under each of the three sound conditions in counterbalanced order. We assessed the lower concentrations at which participants were able to detect (detection threshold) and correctly identify (recognition threshold) a taste sensation. Additionally, the intensity and hedonic ratings of samples above the recognition threshold (7.20 g/L) were analyzed. Affective variations (valence and arousal) in response to the sound conditions were also assessed. Although music did not lead to significant differences in mean detection and recognition thresholds, a larger proportion of sweet taste recognitions was observed at a near-threshold level (2.59 g/L) in the HS condition. The intensity and hedonic ratings of supra-threshold conditions were unaffected by the music condition. Significant differences in self-reported mood in response to the sound conditions were also observed. The present study suggests that the influence of music on the sweet taste perception of basic solutions may depend on the parameter under consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music performances are rich in systematic temporal irregularities called "microtiming", too fine-grained to be notated in a musical score but important for musical expression and communication. Several studies have examined listeners' preference for rhythms varying in microtiming, but few have addressed precisely how microtiming is perceived, especially in terms of cognitive mechanisms, making the empirical evidence difficult to interpret. Here we provide evidence that microtiming perception can be simulated as a process of probabilistic prediction. Participants performed an XAB discrimination test, in which an archetypal popular drum rhythm was presented with different microtiming. The results indicate that listeners could implicitly discriminate the mean and variance of stimulus microtiming. Furthermore, their responses were effectively simulated by a Bayesian model of entrainment, using a distance function derived from its dynamic posterior estimate over phase. Wide individual differences in participant sensitivity to microtiming were predicted by a model parameter likened to noisy timekeeping processes in the brain. Overall, this suggests that the cognitive mechanisms underlying perception of microtiming reflect a continuous inferential process, potentially driving qualitative judgements of rhythmic feel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Humans use time-varying pitch patterns to convey information in music and speech. Recognition of musical melodies and lexical tones relies on relative pitch (RP), the ability to identify intervals between two pitches. RP processing in music is usually more fine-grained than that in tonal languages. In Western music, there are twelve pitch categories within an octave, whereas there are only three level (non-glide) lexical tones in Taiwanese (or Taiwanese Hokkien , a tonal language). The present study aimed at comparing the neural substrates underlying RP processing of musical melodic intervals with that of level lexical tones in Taiwanese. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data from fourteen participants with good RP were analyzed. The results showed that imagining the sounds of visually presented musical intervals was associated with enhanced activity in the central subregion of the right dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC), right posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and right dorsal precuneus compared to auditory imagery of visually presented Taiwanese bi-character words with level lexical tones. During the sound-congruence-judgement task (auditory imagery of musical intervals or bi-character words, and subsequently judging if the imagined sounds were melodically congruent with heard sounds), the contrast of the musical minus linguistic conditions yielded activity in the bilateral dPMC-PPC network and dorsal precuneus, with the dPMC activated in the rostral subregion. The central dPMC and PPC may mediate the attention-based maintenance of pitch intervals, whereas the dorsal precuneus may support attention control and the spatial/sensorimotor processing of the fine-grained pitch structures of music. When judging the congruence between the imagined and heard musical intervals, the bilateral rostral dPMC may play a role in attention control, working memory, evaluation of motor activities, and monitoring mechanisms. Based on the findings of this study and recent studies of amusia, we suggest that higher order cognitive operations are critical to the more fine-grained pitch processing of musical melodies compared to lexical tones. Highlights • Relative pitch processing in music is more fine-grained than that in tonal languages. • The central dPMC and PPC may mediate the attention-based maintenance of pitch intervals. • The bilateral rostral dPMC supports higher order cognitive operations for music pitch processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the advent of cochlear implant (CI) surgery in the 1960s, there have been remarkable technological and surgical advances enabling excellent speech perception in quiet with many CI users able to use the telephone. However, many CI users struggle with music perception, particularly with the pitch-based and melodic elements of music. Yet remarkably, despite poor music perception, many CI users enjoy listening to music based on self-report questionnaires, and prospective studies have suggested a disassociation between music perception and enjoyment. Music enjoyment is arguably a more functional measure of one's listening experience, and thus enhancing one's listening experience is a worthy goal. Recent studies have shown that re-engineering music to reduce its complexity may enhance enjoyment in CI users and also delineate differences in musical preferences from normal hearing listeners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that transgender young offenders are a uniquely vulnerable caseload that may benefit from speech pathology intervention to help bring their voice into alignment with their gender identity. However, no previous studies have investigated treatment efficacy in this population. This study investigated the impact of intensive voice feminisation therapy targeting fundamental frequency and oral resonance in a 17 year old transgender individual within a youth justice institution. Acoustic analysis, listener and self-ratings of vocal femininity, self-ratings of vocal satisfaction, a post-treatment structured interview, and pre- and post- treatment completion of the Transsexual Voice Questionnaire (TVQ MtF ) were utilised to determine treatment impact. Outcome measures indicated therapy was effective at increasing the client’s vocal pitch and perceptually femininity without compromising vocal quality. However, the client was still not consistently perceived as female post-intervention and had difficulty implementing feminine speech strategies in discourse. This case study provides preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of intensive voice feminisation therapy in a youth offending population. This research also highlights the potential utility of speech pathologists working in youth justice settings, even when the timeframe for intervention is limited. Furthermore, this research paper validates the use of perceptual outcome measures in transgender voice work, by replicating previous findings in which significant correlations were found between perceptual ratings of vocal gender and client satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most basic and person-specific affective responses to music is liking. The present investigation sought to determine whether liking was preserved during spontaneous auditory imagery. To this purpose, we inserted two-second silent intervals into liked and disliked songs, a method known to automatically recreate a mental image of these songs. Neural correlates of musical preference were measured by high-density electroencephalography in twenty subjects who had to listen to a set of five pre-selected unknown songs the same number of times for two weeks. Time frequency analysis of the two most liked and the two most disliked songs confirmed the presence of neural responses related to liking. At the beginning of silent intervals (400–900 ms and 1000–1300 ms), significant differences in theta activity were originating from the inferior frontal and superior temporal gyrus. These two brain structures are known to work together to process various aspects of music and are also activated when measuring liking while listening to music. At the end of silent intervals (1400–1900 ms), significant alpha activity differences originating from the insula were observed, whose exact role remains to be explored. Although exposure was controlled for liked and disliked songs, liked songs were rated as more familiar, underlying the strong relationship that exists between liking, exposure, and familiarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A sensorimotor synchronisation method is tested to study rhythm of natural (English) speech. • Acoustic and linguistic landmarks are examined with regards to their ability to attract and anchor stable rhythmic movement. • Best anchors include nucleus onsets and moments of fast local energy change (derived by a previously developed algorithm of the P-center). • Syllables with vocalic and consonantal nuclei are both shown to attract and anchor rhythmic movement. • Neither F0 nor phonological tune specifications influence rhythmic performance in this task. Sensorimotor synchronization as a means of studying rhythmic perception-action coupling has been extensively researched across a large number of temporally regular structures including music while little is known about synchronization with speech. The present study fills this gap by applying a sensorimotor synchronization paradigm to natural speech and studying acoustic landmarks that may serve as perceptual anchors of rhythmic movement in spoken sentences. Five rhythmically relevant types of acoustic landmarks were identified in twenty sentences of English containing syllables with vocalic and non-vocalic nuclei. The landmarks were either manually defined or algorithm-generated and included nucleus onsets, peaks and onsets of inter-syllabic and inter-stress timescales, moments of the fastest energy change (approximating the P-center location), and timepoints of combined pitch and periodic power. Sensorimotor synchronization data from 32 native English participants were examined with regards to the location of an increased synchronization activity in the proximity of the predefined landmarks. The results demonstrated that participants synchronized with syllable-size units regardless of the type of syllable nucleus (vowel or consonant) and that their taps were consistently timed close to nucleus onsets. Hereby, the manually defined nucleus onsets predicted synchronization peaks as well as the algorithm-generated moments of the fastest energy change around nucleus onsets (i.e., a model of the P-center location) did. In contrast, other landmarks did not constitute a stable acoustic anchor of sensorimotor synchronization with English speech. The synchronization performance was not influenced by either acoustic F0-information or by phonological tune specifications. These findings provide new evidence for the proposals that rhythmic attention in natural speech may be locked on to fast spectral changes within a syllable as the smallest structuring unit of prosodic hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vocal singing skills in pediatric CI users are not much known due to the limited number of studies. The principal aim of the present study was to evaluate vocal singing skills in Italian pediatric CI users. A further aim was to investigate factors that may significantly influence their performance. The participants were twenty-two implanted children and twenty-two hearing peers. Their vocal singing skills for familiar ("Happy Birthday to You") and unfamiliar songs ("Baton Twirler" from Pam Pam 2- Tribute to Gordon) were evaluated in relation to their music perception (the Gordon test). Acoustic analysis was performed using Praat and MATLAB software. Nonparametric statistical tests and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to analyze the data. Hearing children outperformed implanted peers in both music perception and vocal singing tasks (all measures regarding intonation, vocal range, melody, and memory for the familiar song versus measures regarding intonation and overall melody production for the unfamiliar song). Music perception and vocal singing performances revealed strong correlations. For the familiar and unfamiliar songs, age-appropriate vocal singing was observed in 27.3% versus 45.4% of children, all implanted within 24 months of age. Age at implantation and duration of CI experience were moderately correlated with the total score obtained from the Gordon test. Implanted children show limited vocal singing skills in comparison to their hearing peers. However, some children implanted within 24 months of age seem to achieve vocal singing skills as good as their hearing peers. Future research could be useful to better understand the role of brain plasticity to implement specific training programs for both music perception and vocal singing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]