The Impact of Vocal Boost Manipulations on Musical Sound Quality for Cochlear Implant Users

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the impact of vocal boost manipulations on cochlear implant (CI) musical sound quality appraisals. Methods An anonymous, online study was distributed to 33 CI users. Participants listened to auditory tokens and assessed the musical quality of acoustic stimuli with vocal boosting and attenuation using a validated sound quality rating scale. Four versions of real‐world musical stimuli were created: a version with +9 dB vocal boost, a version with −9 dB vocal attenuation, a composite stimulus containing a 1,000 Hz low‐pass filter and white noise (“anchor”), and an unaltered version (“hidden reference”). Subjects listened to all four versions and provided ratings based on a 100‐point scale that reflected the perceived sound quality difference of the music clip relative to the reference excerpt. Results Vocal boost increased musical sound quality ratings relative to the reference clip (11.7; 95% CI, 1.62–21.8, p = 0.016) and vocal attenuation decreased musical sound quality ratings relative to the reference clip (28.5; 95% CI, 18.64–38.44, p < 0.001). When comparing the non‐musical training group and musical training group, there was a significant difference in musical sound quality rating scores for the vocal boost condition (21.2; 95% CI: 1.76–40.7, p = 0.028). Conclusions CI‐mediated musical sound quality appraisals are impacted by vocal boost and attenuation. Musically trained CI users to report greater musical sound quality enhancement with a vocal boost with respect to CI users with no musical training background. Implementation of front‐end vocal boost manipulations in music may improve sound quality and music appreciation among CI users. Level of Evidence 2 (Individual cohort study) Laryngoscope, 133:938–947, 2023

Music sound quality assessment in bimodal cochlear implant users – toward improved hearing aid fitting

“…The CI users generated mixes that showed a relatively more intensive adjustment of the voices. In line with this is the recent study by Limb et al (2022) who showed that music was preferred by CI users when the voice of the sound was amplified by 9 dB – a value that is in the range of the gain-steps adjusted in the present study (see Table 1).…”

Effect of Frequency Response Manipulations on Musical Sound Quality for Cochlear Implant Users

“…For music with lyrics, vocal information is often essential for understanding the story and themes of a song, making it an inextricable aspect of the music. As vocal components of music are often contained within mid-range frequencies (defined as 501-2,000 Hz in the present study), FRM that boost this frequency range might help to augment CI-mediated musical sound quality due to the increased clarity and intelligibility of speech information (Limb et al, 2022).…”

“…Cochlear implants (CI) are surgically implanted devices that restore partial sound and speech perception to individuals with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss (Carlson, 2020;Gaylor et al, 2013). While these devices have been shown to significantly improve speech perception in quiet environments (Wilson & Dorman, 2008), the processing of complex sounds such as music is severely limited (Limb, 2006). Sound quality is significantly diminished for CI users compared to normal-hearing listeners (Lassaletta et al, 2008a(Lassaletta et al, , 2008bRoy et al, 2012a).…”

Musical Mistuning Perception and Appraisal in Cochlear Implant Recipients

“…Researchers proposed using schemes to reduce spectral complexity (27)(28)(29)(30) and remixing music based on the preferences of CI recipients (31)(32)(33)(34). In various studies, the most consistent and critical finding of previous studies is that CI recipients preferred larger vocals to instrument ratio in songs ranging from 3 to 15 dB (31), 1.92 and 3.82 dB on average (33), and 8-9 dB on average (34,35). This common observation is intruding considering the importance of human voice and lyrics in modern music.…”