Assessment of temporal aspects in popular singers.

PURPOSE To evaluate the temporal processing of popular singers who do or do not play a musical instrument. METHODS The study population comprised 30 popular band singers. Of them, 15 play a musical instrument (G1) and 15 do them do not play a musical instrument (G2). All of them were submitted to basic audiological evaluation and temporal processing tests: test of frequency standard (TFS) and gaps in noise (GIN) detection. RESULTS Significant differences were observed in performance in the comparison between the groups with regard to the temporal acuity threshold and percentage of correct responses in the GIN, as well as the performance in the TFS. The results of the group of singers who play a musical instrument were found to be better than those of the group that only sings. CONCLUSION Popular singers that play musical instruments have a better performance in resolution and temporal ordering auditory skills than singers who do not play an instrument.