Playing a musical instrument throughout your life protects your hearing in old age, a Canadian study suggests. The study, published in Psychology and Aging, carried out hearing tests on 74 adult musicians and 89 non-musicians. It found a 70-year-old musician’s hearing was as good as that of a 50-year-old who did not play.

Action on Hearing Loss said all people – including musicians – should try to prevent hearing damage in the first place.

Hearing normally declines as people age. By 60, 10-30% of people have moderate hearing loss. By 80, that goes up to as many as 60%. Problems are particularly seen in the central auditory processing system, which is associated with understanding speech, especially when there is background noise – often described as the “cocktail party problem”.

via BBC News