Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of a music appreciation training program (MATP) to that of focused music listening (FML) for improving music and/or speech in noise perception for postlingually deafened cochlear implant (CI) recipients. It was hypothesized that the MATP would show greater improvements than FML. Ten CI recipients were randomly divided into two groups: one undertaking the MATP and the other undertaking FML. Participants completed four 30-minute sessions per week for 8 weeks, with tests of music and speech-in-noise perception being administered four times per participant: before and after a control period, immediately after the intervention, and 4–8 weeks after intervention. There was a significant pre- to posttraining difference for the MATP group on the instrument identification test, as well as for half of the quality rating assessments. Although no statistically significant improvements were obtained for the FML group, there was a trend of higher scores postintervention for the instrument and ensemble identification tests, and compliance was substantially better than for the MATP group. While the results showed that only the music training significantly improved music perception, the potential of FML to benefit some CI recipients for some tasks was also observed.
Highlights
Expeditious progress in the field of cochlear implants (CI) has resulted in greater expectations from recipients and potential recipients
Mann-Whitney U tests showed no significant difference between the music appreciation training program (MATP) and focused music listening (FML) groups for the participant factors of age, age at implantation, device experience, formal music training, or postdevice music listening
One clinical application of this is that a structured music training program seemingly offers the most benefit to CI recipients, FML could be offered as an alternative given there are currently no commercially available music training programs for adult recipients
Summary
Expeditious progress in the field of cochlear implants (CI) has resulted in greater expectations from recipients and potential recipients. They hope to achieve more than just speech understanding in quiet, and research has expanded towards improving the perception of more complex stimuli such as speech-in-noise and music. Music is a pervasive acoustic stimulus that, apart from being a form of entertainment, has cultural and social significance as well as implications on psychological wellbeing [1]. A study in Australia of adults aged 65 or older found that music was important to them for connecting with other people, for maintaining well-being, as a source of entertainment, and as an experience associated with meaning and emotions [5]. A recent review on the relationship between music, health, and well-being highlighted how musical activities are beneficial to psychological health and well-being [6]
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