The role of different acoustic environmental stimuli on manual dexterity

TL;DR

This study found that background music and noise do not affect manual dexterity performance across different age groups.

Contribution

The study is the first to investigate the effects of different acoustic stimuli on manual dexterity across age groups.

Findings

No differences in manual dexterity task performance were found between silence, classical music, rock music, and noise conditions.

Young subjects performed better than middle-aged and elderly subjects in the manual dexterity task.

Acoustic stimuli in the tested range did not influence manual dexterity task execution across age groups.

Abstract

Music has been reported to facilitate motor performance. However, there is no data on the effects of different acoustic environmental stimuli on manual dexterity. The present observational study aimed at investigating the effects of background music and noise on a manual dexterity task in young, middle-aged and elderly subjects. Sixty healthy, right-handed subjects aged between 18 and 80 years were enrolled. Twenty young (mean age: 22±2 years), 20 middle-aged (mean age: 55±8 years) and 20 elderly (mean age: 72±5 years) subjects performed the Nine Hole Peg Test (NHPT) in four different acoustic environments: silence (noise < 20dBA), classical music at 60dBA, rock music at 70 dBA, and a noise stimulus at 80dBA. Performance was recorded using an optical motion capture system and retro-reflective markers (SMART DX, 400, BTS). Outcome measures included the total test time and peg-grasp, peg-transfer, peg-in-hole, hand-return, and removing phases times. Normalized jerk, mean and peak of velocity during transfer and return phases were also computed. No differences were found for NHPT phases and total times, normalized jerk, peak of velocity and mean velocity between four acoustic conditions (p>0.05). Between-group differences were found for NHPT total time, where young subjects revealed better performance than elderly (p˂0.001) and middle-aged (p˂0.001) groups. Music and noise stimuli in the considered range of intensity had no influence on the execution of a manual dexterity task in young, middle-aged and elderly subjects. These findings may have implications for working, sportive and rehabilitative activities.

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