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Researchers at the Bakerley Hospital in Toronto, Canada, found that playing music can change brain waves and improve hearing. The results of the study are published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

The researchers recruited 32 healthy adults with normal hearing and no history of brain dysfunction as volunteers, allowing them to listen to the sounds they sang, and then let half of the volunteers sing the same sound and let the other half press the keyboard. Simulate similar sounds with a computer. At the same time, researchers monitor their brainwave activity.

The results showed that when volunteers played with chanting, there was a significant change in the activity of the brain region related to hearing, which caused hearing improvement. Volunteers did not see similar effects when they listened to the performance or simulated the sound with a computer.

Researchers say that this study proves that learning to play an instrument requires music to be reproduced on the instrument. At this time, the brain’s perception of sound is different from simply listening to music. This may be because “playing an instrument requires cooperation in multiple regions of the brain, including Hearing, movement and perception systems.” “This is the first time we have seen a visual change in the brain after a music lesson, proving that playing an instrument can cause significant changes in brain activity.”

The researchers believe that this result indicates that the brain has the ability to restore connectivity and repair damage. They plan to further study the efficacy of music therapy and physiotherapy in stroke patients and assess the impact of music on the elderly and those with impaired brain.