Clinical assessment of music perception in Korean cochlear implant listeners

Abstract

Pitch discrimination, melody identification, and timbre identification in CI users showed a wide range of perceptual abilities. The mean pitch change discrimination difference limen (DL) for the base frequency of 262 Hz (middle C) was 2.7 +/- 1.7 semitones: 4.4 +/- 4.2 semitones for 330 Hz (E4) and 8.1 +/- 3.0 semitones for 391 Hz (G4) in CI listeners. The DL widened as the base frequency increased. The melody identification test produced 21.1 +/- 21.7% correct answers, and the timbre identification test recorded 25.7 +/- 8.5% correct answers in CI listeners. Pitched percussion instruments (piano, guitar) were better for timbre identification. Speech performance scores had a positive correlation with the pitch discrimination DL (p < 0.05).

Reliability Measure of a Clinical Test: Appreciation of Music in Cochlear Implantees (AMICI)

“…Therefore, consistent with previous findings (Gfeller et al, 2000; McDermott and Looi, 2004; Nimmons et al, 2008; Heng et al, 2011), limiting spectral and fine-grained temporal information has a detrimental effect on music perception in CI listeners. However, CIs are able to transmit accurately dynamic envelope cues, and consequently, as indicated by the present findings, percussive instruments like drum and piano were identified with greater accuracy than others, while wind instruments like flute were more difficult to identify (Gfeller et al, 2002b; McDermott and Looi, 2004; Nimmons et al, 2008; Brockmeier et al, 2010; Jung et al, 2010; Heng et al, 2011). In addition, the availability of reliable temporal envelope cues may affect the relative perceptual weight of spectral and temporal cues in instrument identification.…”

“…Unlike CAMP, which is designed for universal usage (Jung et al, 2010), AMICI is a culturally specific test, with all music stimuli derived from the Western musical culture. For example, jazz and country western styles are well-known by Western culture; however, they may not be as well-known by some individuals in other parts of the world, such as the Middle East or Asia.…”

“…Developed by researchers at University of Washington (Nimmons et al, 2008), CAMP consists of four subtests designed to examine three different aspects of music perception: timbre perception, pitch-direction discrimination, timbre identification and melody recognition. K-CAMP (Jung et al, 2010) consists of the same pitch-direction discrimination and timbre identification tests. However, for melody recognition, due to cultural differences, 10 of the 12 melodies from CAMP have been replaced with popular Korean melodies.…”

Clinical evaluation of music perception, appraisal and experience in cochlear implant users

“…The melody test should be modified for different languages and international use to ensure a higher probability of familiarity for the intended group of patients. Version of the CAMP have been made in Korean (Kim et al, 2012; Jung et al, 2010), Japanese and Dutch (unpublished) using melodies common to those countries, including some melodies that were in the original CAMP. The MCI test (Galvin et al, 2007) offers generic, unfamiliar pitch contours, although it has not yet been formally validated.…”

Midbrain responses to micro-stimulation of the cochlea using high density thin-film arrays

“…Speech processing strategies can be used to enhance either temporal cues at the expense of spectral cues or vice versa (Drennen et al, 2010) and it has been argued that the development of a new generation of CIs does not necessarily require the inclusion of more distinct active electrode sites (Jung et al, 2009). However, CI users' perception of higher frequency changes (areas of the cochlea where frequency changes cover smaller regions of spiral ganglion neurons; Moore, 2007) is poor (Lim et al, 1989), and more discrete activation in these areas may allow for better spectral resolution.…”