Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40781070›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Large-scale multi-site study shows no association between musical training and early auditory neural sound encoding.

Kelly L Whiteford, Lucas S Baltzell, Matt Chiu, John K Cooper, Stefanie Faucher, Pui Yii Goh, Anna Hagedorn, Vanessa C Irsik, Audra Irvine, Sung-Joo Lim and 16 more

Abstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Accent type modulates frequency-specific neural tracking of speech.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

26 authors.

Kelly L WhitefordDepartment of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. klwhit@umich.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2627-1509
Lucas S BaltzellDepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Matt ChiuEastman School of Music, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8186-7241
John K CooperDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
Stefanie FaucherDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
Pui Yii GohDepartment of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Anna HagedornDepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
Vanessa C IrsikCentre for Brain and Mind, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Audra IrvineNeuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA, USA.
Sung-Joo LimDepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Juraj MesikDepartment of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1271-4740
Bruno MesquitaCentre for Brain and Mind, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8712-5249
Breanna OakesDepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
Neha RajappaDepartment of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Elin RoverudDepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Amy E SchrlauDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
Stephen C Van HedgerCentre for Brain and Mind, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2448-9088
Hari M BharadwajDepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8685-9630
Ingrid S JohnsrudeCentre for Brain and Mind, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Gerald KiddDepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Anne E LuebkeDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
Ross K MaddoxDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
Elizabeth W MarvinEastman School of Music, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8910-8007
Tyler K PerrachioneDepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Barbara G Shinn-CunninghamNeuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5096-5914
Andrew J OxenhamDepartment of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9365-1157

Funding

Complex Pitch Perception in Complex EnvironmentsR01DC005216 · NIDCD · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI Andrew J. Oxenham · 2002 to 2026
$9.3M
National Science Foundation (NSF) NSF-BCS grant 1840818NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC005216
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Musical training has been reported to be associated with enhanced neural processing of sounds, as measured via the frequency following response (FFR), implying the potential for human subcortical neural plasticity. We conducted a large-scale multi-site preregistered study (n > 260) to replicate and extend the findings underpinning this important relationship. We failed to replicate any of the major findings selected for replication that were published previously in smaller studies. Musical training was not associated with enhanced neural encoding strength of a speech stimulus (/da/) in babble, whether measured via the spectral or temporal representations of the FFR. Similarly, the strength of neural tracking of a speech sound with a dynamic pitch trajectory was not related to either years of musical training or age of onset of musical training. Our findings provide no evidence for associations between early auditory neural responses and either musical training or musical ability.

Indexed as

Auditory PerceptionMusicAcoustic StimulationAdolescentAdultAuditory CortexFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeuronal PlasticityPitch PerceptionSoundSpeech PerceptionYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID40781070
PMCPMC12334757

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.