The Effects of Music-Based Auditory Training on Hearing-Impaired Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment

Objectives. The present study aimed to determine the effect of music-based auditory training on older adults with hearingloss and decreased cognitive ability, which are common conditions in the older population. Methods. In total, 20 older adults diagnosed with both mild-to-moderately severe hearing loss and mild cognitive impair-ment (MCI) participated. Half of this group were randomly assigned to the auditory training group (ATG), and theother half were designated as the control group (CG). For the ATG, a 40-minute training session (10 minutes for sing-ing a song, 15 minutes for playing instruments, and 15 minutes for playing games with music discrimination) wasconducted twice a week for 8 weeks (for a total of 16 sessions). To confirm the training effects, all participants weregiven tests pre- and post-training, and then a follow-up test was administered 2 weeks after the training, using vari-ous auditory and cognitive tests and a self-reporting questionnaire. Results. The ATG demonstrated significant improvement in all auditory test scores compared to the CG. Additionally, therewas a notable enhancement in cognitive test scores post-training, except for the digit span tests. However, there wasno statistically significant difference in the questionnaire scores between the two groups, although the ATG did scorehigher post-training. Conclusion. The music-based auditory training resulted in a significant improvement in auditory function and a partial en-hancement in cognitive ability among elderly patients with hearing loss and MCI. We anticipate that this music-basedapproach will be adopted for auditory training in clinical settings due to its engaging and easy-to-follow nature.