Music perception in adult patients with cochlear implant

Abstract

The music perception and more specifically the appreciation of music is a common aspiration among cochlear implant (CI) adult users. In the majority of patients, only rhythm perception is reported to be similar to that of listeners with normal hearing. Melody and timbre recognition requires more spectral and temporal fine structure cues that are not well supported by the CI representation: for these reasons music appreciation represents actually a true challenge for adult CI users. This review will take into account the available recent literature about the perception of rhythm, melody and timbre in adult CI users. Furthermore, some hints about rehabilitation of CI users to the music perception and appreciation will be presented.