# The Musicality, Hearing and Genetics ("MyHearingG") Project:  Experimental, epidemiological, and genomics techniques to explore the role of musicality in hearing health

> **NIH NIH R21** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $218,750

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
While there is abundant evidence that certain musical behaviors (e.g., regularly listening to loud music) are risk
factors for age-related hearing loss (ARHL), human musicality also has the potential to support hearing health
across the lifespan. For example, studies in small samples of younger adults show that individual differences in
musical aptitude are positively associated with hearing outcomes such as speech recognition in noisy
conditions, and that musicians show enhanced hearing outcomes and auditory processing compared to non-
musicians. Further, advances in the genetics of musicality show that genes involved in cochlear development
are associated with phenotypic variation in musical aptitude. Preliminary studies also show a positive
association between music engagement frequency and hearing sensitivity. Given this evidence, could higher
degrees of musicality – both aptitude for and engagement with music – be a protective factor against hearing
loss as we age? This project systematically tests this novel hypothesis using experimental, epidemiological,
and genomic approaches. Aim 1 uses robust experimental approaches to characterize associations between
musical aptitude and hearing outcomes in older adults, over and above music engagement (e.g. practice,
formal training, listening) and neurocognitive skills (e.g. executive function). Aim 2 uses epidemiological
approaches to characterize associations between music engagement frequency and hearing outcomes in large
cohorts of middle-aged and older adults. Aim 3 uses computational genomics approaches to investigate
shared genetic architecture between human musicality and ARHL, in large cohorts of middle-aged and older
adults for whom available health, phenotypic, and genotypic information is known. Evidence for and against
our hypotheses will allow us to disentangle three competing theories about the links between human musicality
and hearing health, namely that links are either driven by (a) shared genetic and neural architecture underlying
both traits, (b) auditory neurocognitive affordances and preferences shaping musicality, (c) or “wear and tear”
of sensorineural auditory biology due to cumulative loud music exposure. Taken together, findings from this
project will help evaluate musicality as a protective factor against hearing loss as we age, and lay the
groundwork for understanding longitudinal and causal relationships between music engagement and hearing
health. Further, findings will lay the groundwork for examining specific biological functions (e.g., expression
and regulation) of genes linking musicality, sensorineural auditory mechanisms, and hearing outcomes. This
work addresses a critical health need: one in three adults aged 70 or older in the United States suffers from
hearing loss, with cascading consequences on social isolation, depression, and cognitive decline and
dementia. Innovations in personalized prevention and care are sorely needed. Furthe...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10873287
- **Project number:** 5R21DC021276-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Srishti Nayak
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $218,750
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10873287

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10873287, The Musicality, Hearing and Genetics ("MyHearingG") Project:  Experimental, epidemiological, and genomics techniques to explore the role of musicality in hearing health (5R21DC021276-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10873287. Licensed CC0.

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