CHILDREN WITH LANGUAGE-BASED LEARNING disorders show impaired processing of speech in challenging listening environments, suggesting a noise-exclusion deficit. Musical expertise induces neuroplastic changes throughout the nervous system, including sharpening of early sensory processing, improved linguistic ability, working memory, and source segregation——skills known to be crucial for speech in noise perception. Here we argue for the usefulness of music as an auditory training approach to improve speech perception in noise in individuals with broad noise-exclusion deficits.

THIS ARTICLE SUMMARIZES THE MAIN EVIDENCE TO date regarding links between the brain and music. Musical expertise, often linked to early and intensive learning, is associated with neuroanatomical distinctive features that have been demonstrated through modern neuroimaging techniques, especially magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These distinctive features are present in several brain regions, all more or less involved either in gestural motor skill (therefore probably related to the use of an instrument) or auditory perception. There also is growing evidence that learning music has more general effects on brain plasticity. One important notion, related to this topic, is that of a probable "sensitive period," around 7 years of age, beyond which music-induced structural changes and learning effects are less pronounced. These data are discussed in the perspective of using music training for remediation in children with specific language and reading disorders.

IN THIS ARTICLE, WE FIRST REPORT the data of normal music readers on a new music-reading battery developed in our laboratory. The battery was inspired by the brain damage literature on music-reading deficits and comprised visual and auditory tasks. Second, we report the battery data of IG, a university musician who was referred to us as potentially dyslexic for music, and also her data on text reading and neuropsychological tests.We compare IG's data with those of normal readers.We suggest that IG might represent a case of associated music and text developmental dyslexia.Her results also indicate a dissociation between her pitch and rhythm reading abilities not quite the same as normal readers, as well as an interesting dissociation between reading and repetition, opposite to normal readers.