Music Training Improves Pitch Perception in Prelingually Deafened Children With Cochlear Implants

Abstract

Musical training seems to improve pitch perception ability in prelingually deafened children with a cochlear implant. Auditory plasticity might play an important role in such enhancement. This suggests that incorporation of a structured training program on music perception early in life and as part of the postoperative rehabilitation program for prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants would be beneficial. A longitudinal study is needed to show whether improvement of music performance in these children is measurable by use of auditory evoked potentials.

Psychoacoustic Performance and Music and Speech Perception in Prelingually Deafened Children with Cochlear Implants

“…However, relatively few studies have been reported investigating outcomes in prelingually deafened children using CIs [Chen et al, 2010]. The number of pediatric cochlear implant recipients has been markedly increasing over the past 10 years [Bradham and Jones, 2008], but speech perception outcomes still vary greatly.…”

Benefits of Music Training in Mandarin-Speaking Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users

“…In a survey study, Looi and She (2010) also reported that the more time CI users spent listening to music (i.e., "passive" training), the more enjoyment they received; the surveyed CI users expressed great interest in receiving some sort of "active" music training. Chen et al (2010) found that, in Chinese pediatric CI users, the duration of musical training was positively correlated with pitch-perception accuracy. Yucel, Sennaroglu, and Belgin (2009) found that pediatric CI users who received structured music training (e.g., using a take-home keyboard) developed significantly better music perception skills than the control group that received no explicit training.…”

The perception of prosody and associated auditory cues in early-implanted children: The role of auditory working memory and musical activities

“…These experimental studies appear to show enhancements attributable to musical training rather than to genetic or environmental factors (Besson et al, 2011). Even though the perception of music and especially musical pitch is diffi cult for users of CIs (Drennan & Rubinstein, 2008), benefi cial effects of musical activities on pitch perception have been found (Chen et al, 2010). However, there have been no studies addressing the connections of musical activities to their perception of prosody.…”