Music Perception with Cochlear Implants and Residual Hearing

TLDR

The study examined music perception in Cochlear Nucleus Hybrid cochlear implant recipients and compared their performance to normal‑hearing adults and conventional long‑electrode CI users. Hybrid, normal‑hearing, and long‑electrode CI groups were tested on open‑set recognition of real‑world songs (with and without lyrics) and on closed‑set recognition of eight musical instruments playing a 7‑note phrase. Hybrid CI recipients and normal‑hearing listeners outperformed long‑electrode CI users in song recognition without lyrics, and long‑electrode users were also less accurate on instrument recognition, indicating that preservation of low‑frequency acoustic hearing is important for musical perception.

Abstract

<i>Aim:</i> The aims of this study were to examine the music perception abilities of Cochlear Nucleus Hybrid (acoustic plus electric stimulation) cochlear implant (CI) recipients and to compare their performance with that of normal-hearing (NH) adults and CI recipients using conventional long-electrode (LE) devices (Advanced Bionics: 90K, Clarion, CIIHF; Cochlear Corporation: CI24M, CI22, Contour; Ineraid). Hybrid CI recipients were compared with NH adults and LE CI recipients on recognition of (a) real-world melodies and (b) musical instruments. <i>Patients and Methods:</i> We tested 4 Hybrid CI recipients, 17 NH adults, and 39 LE CI recipients on open-set recognition of real-world songs presented with and without lyrics. We also tested 14 Hybrid CI recipients, 21 NH adults, and 174 LE CI recipients on closed-set recognition of 8 musical instruments playing a 7-note phrase. <i>Results:</i> On recognition of real-world songs, both the Hybrid recipients and NH listeners were significantly more accurate (p < 0.0001) than the LE CI recipients in the no lyrics condition, which required reliance on musical cues only. The LE group was significantly less accurate than either the Hybrid or NH group (p < 0.0001) on instrument recognition for low and high frequency ranges. <i>Conclusions:</i> These results, while preliminary in nature, suggest that preservation of low-frequency acoustic hearing is important for perception of real-world musical stimuli.