The objectives of this study were to determine if music perception by pediatric cochlear implant users can be improved by (1) providing access to bilateral hearing through two cochlear implants or a cochlear implant and a contralateral hearing aid (bimodal users) and (2) any history of music training. The Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Musical Ability test was presented via soundfield to 26 bilateral cochlear implant users, 8 bimodal users and 16 children with normal hearing. Response accuracy and reaction time were recorded via an iPad application. Bilateral cochlear implant and bimodal users perceived musical characteristics less accurately and more slowly than children with normal hearing. Children who had music training were faster and more accurate, regardless of their hearing status. Reaction time on specific subtests decreased with age, years of musical training and, for implant users, better residual hearing. Despite effects of these factors on reaction time, bimodal and bilateral cochlear implant users' responses were less accurate than those of their normal hearing peers. This means children using bilateral cochlear implants and bimodal devices continue to experience challenges perceiving music that are related to hearing impairment and/or device limitations during development.
Music perception improves in children with bilateral cochlear implants or bimodal devicesa)
Electronic mail: melissa.polonenko@mail.utoronto.ca
Also at Institute of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Medical Sciences Building, 1 King's College Circle, Room 2374, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada.
Portions of this work were presented in “Music training improves music perception in children using bilateral cochlear implants or bimodal devices,” at the 33rd World Congress of Audiology, Vancouver, Canada, September 21, 2016.
Melissa J. Polonenko, Sara Giannantonio, Blake C. Papsin, Pasquale Marsella, Karen A. Gordon; Music perception improves in children with bilateral cochlear implants or bimodal devices. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 June 2017; 141 (6): 4494–4507. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4985123
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