Melody Identification Research Articles

The role of carrier spectral composition in the perception of musical pitch.

Temporal envelope fluctuations of natural sounds convey critical information to speech and music processing. In particular, musical pitch perception is assumed to be primarily underlined by temporal envelope encoding. While increasing evidence demonstrates the importance of carrier fine structure to complex pitch perception, how carrier spectral information affects musical pitch perception is less clear. Here, transposed tones designed to convey identical envelope information across different carriers were used to assess the effects of carrier spectral composition to pitch discrimination and musical-interval and melody identifications. Results showed that pitch discrimination thresholds became lower (better) with increasing carrier frequencies from 1k to 10k Hz, with performance comparable to that of pure sinusoids. Musical interval and melody defined by the periodicity of sine- or harmonic complex envelopes across carriers were identified with greater than 85% accuracy even on a 10k-Hz carrier. Moreover, enhanced interval and melody identification performance was observed with increasing carrier frequency up to 6k Hz. Findings suggest a perceptual enhancement of temporal envelope information with increasing carrier spectral region in musical pitch processing, at least for frequencies up to 6k Hz. For carriers in the extended high-frequency region (8-20k Hz), the use of temporal envelope information to music pitch processing may vary depending on task requirement. Collectively, these results implicate the fidelity of temporal envelope information to musical pitch perception is more pronounced than previously considered, with ecological implications.

Music appreciation on cochlear implant simulation with contour and temporal cues

The musical appreciation of the cochlear implant simulation user on the contour and temporal cues and the effect of the coding strategy are determined. Cochlear implant simulations were processed using continuous interleaved sampling (CIS) and spectral peak (SPEAK) coding strategies with varying numbers of channels. The experiments consist of contour identification, temporal cue discrimination, and familiar melody identification. The results show cochlear implant simulation users are poor at recognizing contour cues compared with normal hearing, but good at discriminating temporal cues from tempo and rhythm varied with contour, achieving scores close to normal hearing. A poor score was observed in familiar melody identification with pitch contour, compared to normal hearing scores, which correlated (r = 0.99) with the recognition of contour cues. Temporal cue information from rhythm helped cochlear implant simulation users recognize familiar melodies with an almost 40% increase in score compared to melodies without rhythm (p 0.05). Music appreciation was poor on the variation of coding strategy with the number of channels 2 to 6 CIS and good on the SPEAK coding strategy (compared with 22 channels condition). The studies emphasize the need for advances in coding strategies to deliver pitch contour cues to cochlear implant processing.

Tips for Cochlear Implant Recipients to Enjoy Music

The conventional wisdom used to be that cochlear implant recipients didn’t enjoy music. Since we called the external device a speech processor, candidates were routinely counseled to expect good access to speech sounds—but not to expect much in the musical realm. Pitch is not handled well by cochlear implants (CIs) and since pitch determines melody, the guidance was “it’s best not to spend time on music.” Expectations for children were even worse since they typically had no memory of music prior to cochlear implantation.Music Rehabilitation Resources for Adults with Cochlear ImplantsThe new conventional wisdom is different. Teenagers with cochlear implants may ignore what adults say they are supposed to like (or not like). Most CI recipients implanted during childhood had no preconceived notions of what music should sound like and many decided they liked what they heard! Similarly, despite guidance from professionals, many adults decided they wanted to try listening to music with their CIs. Some who had a musical background before losing their hearing pushed forward despite the fact that the sound was different. Musicians who use CIs provided guidance. Listening to music isn’t a competition. It’s about enjoyment and benefits people with CIs can derive from music, which can be enormous. Music is arguably the most complex and sophisticated form of sound possible. Music is a form of patterned sound that uses elements of pitch, melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre to convey meaning. Lyrics are often part of music, adding a linguistic dimension to the musical experience. It is helpful to break down music into these components, and evaluate the way CI devices transmit information by category. MUSIC PERCEPTION FUNDAMENTALS Cochlear implant recipients have a range of pitch discrimination outcomes but in general, it is poor. However, many CI users can perceive melodic contour correctly, a crucial element of melody identification. Rhythm perception may be near normal. This aspect of music is very helpful for many CI users for listening to music with strong rhythmic content. Timbre perception is often poor, but nonetheless, most CI listeners can identify some musical instruments in a closed set and may be able to improve this ability with practice. Timbre discrimination (rather than identification) is intact for many CI users. Understanding lyrics for new songs is difficult. The presence of lyrics can help CI users appreciate music. The following tips may help CI recipients enjoy music. CHOOSE SELECTIONS WITH CARE INITIALLY Certain types of music may sound better than others—start with those. Familiar songs or music selections that people recall from before their hearing declined may be easier to follow. Music with a strong beat (e.g., rock, rap, hip hop, country) may be easier to perceive. Selections that are not overly “complicated” or noisy may sound better. Fewer instruments may help. MAKE THE SOUND AS CLEAR AS POSSIBLE Listen in a quiet environment with limited reverberation. Avoid competing background sounds or noise. Try connecting with streaming, telecoil, direct connect, or headphones. Cars often have high-quality speakers and provide a contained space that may provide a good listening experience. Keep the volume down, at least initially. OBTAIN THE WORDS TO SONGS Most CI (and hearing aid) users have difficulty understanding lyrics in unfamiliar music. Download lyrics and listen initially with the words. After a few sessions, one may be able to understand words in songs. Visual clues such as watching a singer’s face may help. Listening repeatedly to songs may make the words more accessible. TRY DIFFERENT SETTINGS ON THE SOUND PROCESSOR Try the setting designed for noise. Compare the noise setting to your usual setting (if different). If using a hearing aid on the contralateral ear, wearing it while listening to music may help with melody. PRACTICE Like other auditory training, repetition helps “train your brain.” Use auditory training programs for music from Angel Soundhttp://angelsound.tigerspeech.com and from CI manufacturers. Listen repeatedly to music you were familiar with before. Use above tips in combination with practice. Use a piano keyboard to pitch train and identify areas of poor performance. If there is interest in learning a musical instrument, consider starting with instruments with discrete pitch steps (piano, guitar) rather than instruments that require intonation by ear (violin, trombone). MAINTAIN REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS Music will not sound the same. Music is subjective for everyone—whether or not someone has hearing loss. Music is part of a larger experience. Most CI recipients listen to, and enjoy, music.

An evaluation of music perception, appreciation, and overall music enjoyment in prelingual paediatric cochlear implant users utilizing simplified techniques: An Indian study

IntroductionThis study was aimed to evaluate the speech abilities, music habits, ability to perceive and enjoy music in prelingual paediatric cochlear implantees between the age group (18–84 months). Testing paediatric CI recipients for their music habits is challenging. This study offers some unique yet simplified tools to test musical parameters in paediatric CI recipients. Material methodsTwenty-seven paediatric CI recipients who had received at least one year of auditory verbal therapy post-implantation were selected. They were tested for their speech abilities using the CAP (Category of Auditory Performance) and SIR (Speech Intelligibility Ratings) score. Music habits (Musicality Rating Scale/MRS), music perception (Pitch, timbre, melody) and music enjoyment (Subjective Assessment of Music Enjoyment/SAME) were assessed using various tools. All these parameters were compared with age and sex-matched controls who had normal hearing. ResultsSimple pitch discrimination, timbre recognition, and melody identification was observed in 29.60%, 37.03%, and 37.03% of implantees, respectively, compared to 88.88%, 81.48% and 88.88%, in normal-hearing children. The mean scores of CAP, SIR and MRS in cochlear implant users who perceived pitch timbre and melody differed significantly from those who did not. The mean SAME score of the normal-hearing group [4.37 ± 0.74] differs significantly from the paediatric cochlear implant user group [2.59 ± 1.47]. (p < .000). ConclusionThis study offers some novel, simplified tools to assess music habits in paediatric cochlear implantees. These can be utilized in low resource settings and can be helpful for rehabilitationists training these children.

Longitudinal music perception performance of postlingual deaf adults with cochlear implants using acoustic and/or electrical stimulation

In this study, we investigated longitudinal music perception of adult cochlear implant (CI) users and how acoustic stimulation with CI affects their music performance. A total of 163 participants' data were analyzed retrospectively. 96 participants were using acoustic stimulation with CI and 67 participants were using electrical stimulation only via CI. The music performance (melody identification, appreciation, and satisfaction) data were collected pre-implantation, 1-year, and 2-year post-implantation. Mixed repeated measures of ANOVA and pairwise analysis adjusted by Tukey were used for the statistics. As result, in both groups, there were significant improvements in melody identification, music appreciation, and music satisfaction at 1-year, and 2-year post-implantation than a pre-implantation, but there was no significant difference between 1 and 2 years in any of the variables. Also, the group of acoustic stimulation with CI showed better perception skill of melody identification than the CI-only group. However, no differences found in music appreciation and satisfaction between the two groups, and possible explanations were discussed. In conclusion, acoustic and/or electrical hearing devices benefit the recipients in music performance over time. Although acoustic stimulation accompanied with electrical stimulation could benefit the recipients in terms of listening skills, those benefits may not extend to the subjective acceptance of music. These results suggest the need for improved sound processing mechanisms and music rehabilitation.

Long-term Changes in Musical Perception in Korean Cochlear Implant Patients.

The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term changes in music perception among cochlear implant (CI) patients using the Korean version of the Clinical Assessment of Music Perception test and questionnaires for music listening. Twenty-seven CI patients participated in this study. Their music perception ability was evaluated using the Korean version of the Clinical Assessment of Music Perception test, which consisted of pitch discrimination, melody, and timbre identification. The test was conducted at least twice after CI. A questionnaire was also used to quantify listening habits (LH) and level of musical experience (LE). The participants were divided into two groups according to the average of each test result from the first test. In the pitch discrimination test, the just-noticeable-difference limen values increased as the base frequency increased, and significant differences were observed between the results of 262 and 391 Hz (p = 0.006). In the good performance group, pitch discrimination in the second test did not significantly differ from the first test, but the pitch discrimination score significantly improved in the poor performance group. Similarly, timbre test results were significantly improved in the poor performance group. Neither group exhibited changes in the second test for melody identification. The scores for LH and LE significantly decreased postoperatively and did not recover during the follow-up period. Pitch discrimination and timbre identification improved in CI listeners who exhibited poor musical performance shortly after surgery. However, melody identification did not improve over time. LH and LE scores decreased after CI surgery without time-dependent improvement.

An SS ANOVA (Smoothing Spline Analysis of Variance) study of high tone lowering in Tsua

This article examines the acoustic phonetic properties of consonant-tone interaction in the Khoisan language, Tsua, using speech production data from original field research in Botswana. The Tsua tonal melodies with Fundamental Frequency (F0) shapes having the most extreme excursions are the result of a rare consonant-tone interaction pattern with depressor types found in both African and East Asian tone languages. The Tsua depressor types are voiced obstruents, aspirated obstruents and the glottal fricative /h/. Statistical analysis via Smoothing Spline Analysis of Variance (SS ANOVA) reveals two striking generalisations: (i) only root-initial High tones followed by a non-High tone are depressed; and (ii) the overall shapes of the F0 curves are more important for tone melody identification than whether they are produced at a slightly higher or lower Hertz value, even if the difference is statistically significant. The first finding reflects the context-dependent nature of Tsua tonal depression. The second stands in contrast to studies of other tone systems that suggest the relative Hertz differential between adjacent tones is more important for identification. These findings expand our knowledge of tonal phonetics by showing what is possible in a typologically rare tone system, and highlight the importance of statistical methods in phonetic fieldwork.

Long-term representations of melodies in Western listeners: Influences of familiarity, musical expertise, tempo and structure

We investigated the effects of familiarity, level of musical expertise, musical tempo, and structural boundaries on the identification of familiar and unfamiliar tunes. Healthy Western listeners ( N = 62; age range 14–64 years) judged their level of familiarity with a preselected set of melodies when the number of tones of a given melody was increased from trial to trial according to the so-called gating paradigm. The number of tones served as one dependent measure. The second dependent measure was the physical duration of the stimulus presentation until listeners identified a melody as familiar or unfamiliar. Results corroborate previous work, suggesting that listeners need less information to recognize familiar as compared to unfamiliar melodies. Both decreasing and increasing the original tempo by a factor of two delayed the identification of familiar melodies. Furthermore, listeners had more difficulty identifying unfamiliar melodies when tempo was increased. Finally, musical expertise significantly influenced identification of either melodic category, i.e., reducing the required number of tones. Taken together, the findings support theories which suggest that tempo information is coded in melody representation, and that musical expertise is associated with especially efficient strategies for accessing long-term representations of melodic materials.

Musical instrument identification in simulated electric acoustic hearing and in cochlear implant users with contralateral hearing aids.

While cochlear implant (CI) users achieve high levels of speech perception in quiet conditions, music perception is a challenging task. Gfeller et al. (2000) found that CI users rated music as second most important acoustic stimulus in their lives next to speech. Music is considered to be a central part of human experience, and many CI users can only dream of one day being able to appreciate music as they had before losing their hearing. For those with congenital deafness, music remains a distant hope, something experienced only through reactions of others, as indicated by poor performance of prelingually deaf children with CIs on measures of music perception (Stabej et al., 2012). Some recent work in CI field has focused on improving quality of music perception, and in doing so, improving overall quality of life for implant users (Limb & Roy, 2014; Limb & Rubinstein, 2012; Petersen, Mortensen, Hansen, & Vuust, 2012). This has posed a great challenge to researchers, as CI devices have a long history of design principles solely focused on delivering aspects of acoustic signal that lead to improved speech communication without much consideration of music perception (Loizou, 1998, 2006).A number of factors may limit music perception for CI users (McDermott, 2004). The substantial reduction in spectral resolution, limited dynamic range, and channel interactions between neighboring electrodes may render most music noisy and unpleasant to CI users (Limb & Rubinstein, 2012). Although CI users' rhythm perception is comparable with normal-hearing (NH) listeners (Gfeller & Lansing, 1991; Gfeller, Woodworth, Robin, Witt, & Knutson, 1997; Phillips-Silver et al., 2015), melody and timbre perception remain quite poor. Implant users rely heavily on rhythmic cues in identification of melodies, performing better when recognizing melodies with a distinctive rhythm than recognizing melodies with less rhythmic structure (Kong, Cruz, Jones, & Zeng, 2004; Schulz & Kerber, 1994). Their increased reliance on temporal cues may be a consequence of reduction in spectral resolution owing to a limited number of stimulating electrodes. Pitch perception has been found to vary greatly across CI users. Some listeners can discriminate a difference in pitch of one semitone reliably, whereas others require interval differences as large as two octaves for reliable judgments (Drennan & Rubinstein, 2008; Ping, Yuan, & Feng, 2012). Timbre, defined as the attribute of auditory sensation which enables a listener to judge that two nonidentical sounds, similarly presented and having same loudness and pitch, are dissimilar (ASA 111-1994) has also been found to be problematic for CI users. An important dimension of musical expressivity, timbre is primarily defined through temporal envelope and spectral shape of a sound (Dowling & Harwood, 1986; Handel, 1995), which enable identification and tracking of a musical sound source over time (McAdams & Giordano, 2016). While temporal envelopes are encoded fairly well by CIs, spectral shape is degraded (Drennan & Rubinstein, 2008). Two major limitations include less spectral resolving power (typically Timbre is an essential element in enjoying musical sound. Composers use timbre in form of different musical instruments. …

Dance Movements Enhance Song Learning in Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants.

Music perception of cochlear implants (CI) users is constrained by the absence of salient musical pitch cues crucial for melody identification, but is made possible by timing cues that are largely preserved by current devices. While musical timing cues, including beats and rhythms, are a potential route to music learning, it is not known what extent they are perceptible to CI users in complex sound scenes, especially when pitch and timbral features can co-occur and obscure these musical features. The task at hand, then, becomes one of optimizing the available timing cues for young CI users by exploring ways that they might be perceived and encoded simultaneously across multiple modalities. Accordingly, we examined whether training tasks that engage active music listening through dance might enhance the song identification skills of deaf children with CIs. Nine CI children learned new songs in two training conditions: (a) listening only (auditory learning), and (2) listening and dancing (auditory-motor learning). We examined children's ability to identify original song excerpts, as well as mistuned, and piano versions from a closed-set task. While CI children were less accurate than their normal hearing peers, they showed greater song identification accuracies in versions that preserved the original instrumental beats following learning that engaged active listening with dance. The observed performance advantage is further qualified by a medium effect size, indicating that the gains afforded by auditory-motor learning are practically meaningful. Furthermore, kinematic analyses of body movements showed that CI children synchronized to temporal structures in music in a manner that was comparable to normal hearing age-matched peers. Our findings are the first to indicate that input from CI devices enables good auditory-motor integration of timing cues in child CI users for the purposes of listening and dancing to music. Beyond the heightened arousal from active engagement with music, our findings indicate that a more robust representation or memory of musical timing features was made possible by multimodal processing. Methods that encourage CI children to entrain, or track musical timing with body movements, may be particularly effective in consolidating musical knowledge than methods that engage listening only.

Music identification skills of children with specific language impairment.

To date very few studies have investigated the musical skills of children with specific language impairment (SLI). There is growing evidence that SLI affects areas other than language, and it is therefore reasonable to hypothesize that children with this disorder may have difficulties in perceiving musical stimuli appropriately. To compare melody and song identification skills in a group of children with SLI and in a control group of children with typical language development (TD); and to study possible correlations between music identification skills and language abilities in the SLI group. This is a prospective case control study. Two groups of children were enrolled: one meeting DSM-IV-TR(®) diagnostic criteria for SLI and the other comprising an age-matched group of children with TD. All children received a melody and a song identification test, together with a test battery assessing receptive and productive language abilities. 30 children with SLI (mean age = 56 ± 9 months) and 23 with TD (mean age = 60 ± 10 months) were included. Melody and song identification scores among SLI children were significantly lower than those of TD children, and in both groups song identification scores were significantly higher than melody identification scores. Song identification skills bore a significant correlation to chronological age in both groups (TD: r = 0.529, p = 0.009; SLI: r = 0.506, p = 0.004). Whereas no other variables were found explaining the variability of melody or song identification scores in either group, the correlation between language comprehension and song identification in the SLI group approached significance (r = 0.166, p = 0.076). The poorer music perception skills of SLI children as compared with TD ones suggests that SLI may also affect music perception. Therefore, training programmes that simultaneously stimulate via language and music may prove useful in the rehabilitation of children affected by SLI.

Identification of environmental sounds and melodies in syndromes of anterior temporal lobe degeneration

Recognition of nonverbal sounds in semantic dementia and other syndromes of anterior temporal lobe degeneration may determine clinical symptoms and help to define phenotypic profiles. However, nonverbal auditory semantic function has not been widely studied in these syndromes. Here we investigated semantic processing in two key nonverbal auditory domains – environmental sounds and melodies – in patients with semantic dementia (SD group; n=9) and in patients with anterior temporal lobe atrophy presenting with behavioural decline (TL group; n=7, including four cases with MAPT mutations) in relation to healthy older controls (n=20). We assessed auditory semantic performance in each domain using novel, uniform within-modality neuropsychological procedures that determined sound identification based on semantic classification of sound pairs. Both the SD and TL groups showed comparable overall impairments of environmental sound and melody identification; individual patients generally showed superior identification of environmental sounds than melodies, however relative sparing of melody over environmental sound identification also occurred in both groups. Our findings suggest that nonverbal auditory semantic impairment is a common feature of neurodegenerative syndromes with anterior temporal lobe atrophy. However, the profile of auditory domain involvement varies substantially between individuals.

Speech perception with F0mod, a cochlear implant pitch coding strategy

Objective: The fundamental frequency modulation (F0mod) sound processing strategy was developed to improve pitch perception with cochlear implants. In previous work it has been shown to improve performance in a number of pitch-related tasks such as pitch ranking, familiar melody identification, and Mandarin Chinese tone identification. The objective of the current study was to compare speech perception with F0mod and the standard clinical advanced combination encoder (ACE) strategy. Study sample: Seven cochlear-implant listeners were recruited from the clinical population of the University Hospital Leuven. Design: F0mod was implemented on a real-time system. Speech recognition in quiet and noise was measured for seven cochlear-implant listeners, comparing F0mod with ACE, using three different Dutch-language speech materials. Additionally the F0 estimator used was evaluated physically, and pitch ranking performance was compared between F0mod and ACE. Results: Immediately after switch-on of the F0mod strategy, speech recognition in quiet and noise were similar for ACE and F0mod, for four out of seven listeners. The remaining three listeners were subjected to a short training protocol with F0mod, after which their performance was reassessed, and a significant improvement was found. Conclusions: As F0mod improves pitch perception, for the seven subjects tested it did not interfere with speech recognition in quiet and noise, and has a low computational complexity, it seems promising for implementation in a clinical sound processor.

Long-Term Effects of Non-Linear Frequency Compression on Performance of Music and Speech Perception

Objective: Previous studies have already documented improved speech intelligibility and music performance with the use of Nonlinear Frequency Compression (NFC) but as it is widely acknowledged that hearing aid users may gain increasing benefit with longer experience it is interesting to look into long-term effects of this technology. Speech perception benefit with extended use of NFC has been reported for children and cochlear implantees showed a significant improvement in melody recognition after extended use. Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the long term effect on the perception of music with NFC in adult hearing aid users and whether speech intelligibility in noise changed with extended use of NFC. Design and Sample: As real-life use and experience of NFC hearing aids is necessary to reveal its true potential, the study described in this article was performed roughly three years after the initial study to address any long-term aspects and therefore a comparitive research design was implemented. A subgroup of the participants (n=9) of the study described in Uys, Pottas, Vinck and Van Dijk was recruited to check for their music performance and speech intelligibility after 3 years’ experience with NFC. Results and Conclusion: The results confirm the general observation of increased benefit from the hearing devices when making use of the high-frequency cues provided by NFC. Whereas the majority of parameters describing the subjective perception did not change, those parameters relating to the performance - especially melody identification and speech understanding in noise - did improve over the longer period. This leads to the conclusion that it is prudent to intensify the evaluation into the long-term effects of NFC technology.

IDENTIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL SOUNDS AND MELODIES IN SYNDROMES OF ANTERIOR TEMPORAL LOBE DEGENERATION

article i nfo Recognition of nonverbal sounds in semantic dementia and other syndromes of anterior temporal lobe degener- ation may determine clinical symptoms and help to define phenotypic profiles. However, nonverbal auditory semantic function has not been widely studied in these syndromes. Here we investigated semantic processing in two key nonverbal auditory domains - environmental sounds and melodies - in patients with semantic dementia (SD group; n = 9) and in patients with anterior temporal lobe atrophy presenting with behavioural decline (TL group; n = 7, including four cases with MAPT mutations) in relation to healthy older controls (n = 20). We assessed auditory semantic performance in each domain using novel, uniform within-modality neuropsychological procedures that determined sound identification based on semantic classification of sound pairs. Both the SD and TL groups showed comparable overall impairments of environmental sound and melody identification; individual patients generally showed superior identification of environmental sounds than melodies, however relative sparing of melody over environmental sound identification also occurred in both groups. Our findings suggest that nonverbal auditory semantic impairment is a common feature of neurodegen- erative syndromes with anterior temporal lobe atrophy. However, the profile of auditory domain involvement varies substantially between individuals. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license

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Investigation on the music perception skills of Italian children with cochlear implants

ObjectiveTo compare the music perception skills of a group of Italian-speaking children with cochlear implants to those of a group of normal hearing children; to analyze possible correlations between implanted children's musical skills and their demographics, clinical characteristics, phonological perception, and speech recognition and production abilities. Methods18 implanted children aged 5–12 years and a reference group of 23 normal-hearing subjects with typical language development were enrolled. Both groups received a melody identification test and a song (i.e. original version) identification test. The implanted children also received a test battery aimed at assessing speech recognition, speech production and phoneme discrimination. ResultsThe implanted children scored significantly worse than the normal hearing subjects in both musical tests. In the cochlear implant group, phoneme discrimination abilities were significantly correlated with both melody and song identification skills, and length of device use was significantly correlated with song identification skills. ConclusionsExperience with device use and phonological perception had a moderate-to-strong correlation to implanted children's music perception abilities. In the light of these findings, it is reasonable to assume that a rehabilitation program specifically aimed at improving phonological perception could help pediatric cochlear implant recipients better understand the basic elements of music; moreover, a training aimed at improving the comprehension of the spectral elements of music could enhance implanted children's phonological skills.

Estudio piloto de la prueba de percepción musical camp en implantados y normoyentes

En la búsqueda de una prueba de percepción musical estandarizada y aplicable en español, se evaluó el CAMP test creado en inglés por la Universidad de Washington para implantados y normoyentes. Objetivo: determinar las dificultades de su aplicación cuando el idioma nativo es español. Método: estudio de corte transversal con tres pruebas de percepción musical: umbral de tonos, percepción de melodías y timbre musical. Para correr el programa se tradujeron al español los comandos. Resultados: se reclutaron cinco pacientes, tres de ellos hombres (60%). La edad mediana fue 42 años (RI de 40 a 43). El tiempo mediano de deprivación fue de 60 meses (RI 36 a 60). La mediana del tiempo de uso del implante fue de doce meses (RI 6 a 108). El resultado de detección del tono por frecuencias para el de 262 Htz la mediana fue de 3.61 (RI 2.17 a 4.28), para 330 Htz 3.72 (RI 2.94 a 4.28) y para 391 Htz 5.5 (RI 4.17 a 8.56). El porcentaje de reconocimiento con las melodías presentó una mediana de 8,33% (RI 5,56% a 13,89%) y el del timbre musical, medido por el reconocimiento de los instrumentos, 33,3% (RI 20,83 a 45,83%). Los controles fueron siete individuos sanos de los cuales cuatro eran mujeres (57,14%), con edad mediana de 31 años (RI 18 a 44). En la percepción del tono el resultado de detección del umbral por frecuencias fue: para el de 262 Htz de 1 (RI 0.67 a 3.39), para 330 Htz 0.94 (RI 0.5 a 4.39) y para 391 Htz 0.72 (RI 0.61 a 3.22). El porcentaje de reconocimiento con las melodías presentó una mediana de 69% (RI 33,3 a 83,3%) y el del timbre musical 62,5% (RI 45,8 a 75%). La mayoría de los sujetos evaluados (10 de 12) realizaron la prueba sin ayuda de los examinadores, solo dos la requirieron para el manejo del programa, pero entendieron y pudieron completarla. De las tres características musicales evaluadas, la identificación de las melodías fue la más difícil. Conclusión: la prueba CAMP de percepción musical resulta útil fácil de aplicar en normoyentes y usuarios de implante coclear cuyo idioma nativo sea español, cuando se dispone de cartillas con traducción de los comandos.

The cohort model of melody identification: Evaluating primacy and similarity

Two experiments investigated two hypotheses derived from the cohort model of melody identification. The primacy hypothesis holds that the initial notes of a melody are differentially important for identification because they are used to activate the cohort. The similarity hypothesis holds that the likelihood of identifying a stimulus as a particular song will depend on the musical similarity of the stimulus to that song. Consistent with the primacy hypothesis, identification performance decreased significantly when the initial notes of the melody were not heard. However, musical similarity was generally a poor predictor of identification performance and confusion errors were rare and showed little evidence of musical similarity. These data are used to argue that melody identification does not involve an initial activation of candidate melodies based on low-level musical properties that are gradually winnowed down on a note-by-note basis. Instead, melody identification seems to be more ‘all-or-none’ than the cohort model suggests.

Developmental Improvements in Perceptual Restoration: Can Young Children Reconstruct Missing Sounds in Noisy Environments?

Young children are frequently exposed to sounds such as speech and music in noisy listening conditions, which have the potential to disrupt their learning. Missing input that is masked by louder sounds can, under the right conditions, be ‘filled in’ by the perceptual system using a process known as perceptual restoration. This experiment compared the ability of 4‐ to 6‐year‐old children, 9‐ to 11‐year‐old children and adults to complete a melody identification task using perceptual restoration. Melodies were presented either intact (complete input), with noise‐filled gaps (partial input; perceptual restoration can occur) or with silence‐filled gaps (partial input; perceptual restoration cannot occur). All age groups could use perceptual restoration to help them interpret partial input, yet perception was the most detrimentally affected by the presentation of partial input for the youngest children. This implies that they might have more difficulty perceiving sounds in noisy environments than older children or adults. Young children had particular difficulty using partial input for identification under conditions where perceptual restoration could not occur. These findings suggest that perceptual restoration is a crucial mechanism in young children, where processes that fill in missing sensory input represent an important part of the way meaning is extracted from a complex sensory world. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.