Auditory attention and auditory laterality in singers

A. Szkielkowska, J. Ratynska, Z.M. Kurkowski, R. Markowska, E. Kazanecka, H. Skarzynski

Objective: The listening ability which is connected with psychical activity of a human being, influences his/her voice. The aim of the study was to assess listening ability and auditory laterality in singers with the use of the the procedure developed by A. Tomatis
Material and method: 40 musicians aged from 19 to 24 years old were included in the study. All subjects underwent phoniatric examination, hearing tests (pure tone audiometry, impedance audiometry) and test of auditory attention and auditory laterality according to Tomatis. The controls were 20 healthy subjects with no musical training who underwent similar assessment.
Results: The results of the listening test revealed differences between studied group and controls. The main differences concerned relationship between auditory attention to external and internal sounds. Those findings suggest that listening ability may evolve and change with the course of musical education.

Corresponding author: Dr Agata Szkielkowska, MD, PhD
Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw, Poland
Phone: +48 22 8355214 Fax : +48 22 8355214
email: a.szkielkowska@ifps.org.pl

A. Szkielkowska ^1,2, J. Ratynska ¹, Z.M. Kurkowski ^1,3, R. Markowska ¹, E. Kazanecka ¹, H. Skarzynski ^1,2
1. Phoniatric Clinic of Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw, Poland
2. Academy of Music, Warsaw, Poland
3. University of Maria Curie-Sklodowska, Lublin, Poland