Though more research needs to be done, Kraus noted that previous studies have indicated that toddlers who participated in just a year of music training – with activities such as simple as mom-and-tot music classes – showed better neural responses to sound compared to toddlers who did not receive music training.
As a result, Kraus is hopeful that this research could lead to a greater emphasis on the benefits of music education for children.

Kraus’ research indicates that the ability to clearly process sound is connected to the ability to accurately hear when other sounds and noises are present – an important skill in busy classroom learning environments where it is imperative to focus on the teacher’s voice over other sounds inside and outside the classroom. Previous studies revealed that musicians have enhanced speech-in-noise perception. This publication indicates that similar effects are present in musically-trained children.

Tierney A, Kraus N (2013) The ability to tap to a beat relates to cognitive, linguistic, and perceptual skills. Brain and Language. 124: 225–231.

Excerpts from Abstract:

• Reading-impaired children have difficulty tapping to a beat.
• Subjects better able to tap to the beat would perform better on attention tests
• Tapping performance related to reading, attention, and backward masking.
• These results motivate future research investigating whether beat synchronization training can improve not only reading ability, but potentially executive function and auditory processing as well.

• Playing a musical instrument changes the anatomy and function of the brain.
• Adults who received formal music instruction as children have more robust brainstem responses to sound than peers who never participated in music lessons.
• Neural changes accompanying musical training during childhood are retained in adulthood.