Musical stimulation proposal for hearing impaired children: case reports
Letícia do Rosário Amado Pacheco1, Juliana Habiro de Souza Miguel1, Daniela Gil1
1Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo - UNIFESP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
Insights
Musical stimulation programs can enhance rhythm and melody skills in children with Cochlear Implants. This study shows positive effects for pediatric auditory rehabilitation.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric audiology
- Music therapy
- Speech-language pathology
Background:
- Cochlear Implants (CI) are vital for hearing restoration in children.
- Auditory rehabilitation programs often benefit from multimodal approaches.
- The role of music in developing auditory skills in CI users requires further investigation.
Observation:
- A musical stimulation program was developed and applied to five children (ages 2-5) with CIs.
- Participants underwent six music intervention sessions.
- Standardized musical assessments were used to track progress.
Findings:
- The musical stimulation program significantly improved rhythm (p=0.0267) and melody (p=0.0445) skills.
- Children demonstrated over 50% performance improvement in musical tasks.
- The intervention positively impacted participants' musical skill development.
Implications:
- Developed musical programs can be effectively integrated into auditory rehabilitation for children with CIs.
- Music-based interventions offer a beneficial adjunct to traditional speech therapy.
- Further research can explore optimizing music interventions for CI users.
Purpose:
To develop and to apply a musical stimulation program for children using Cochlear Implant.
Method:
The research was conducted at the Educational Audiology Outpatient Clinic, UNIFESP, and was carried out in two stages - conception of the musical stimulation activities and its application in five children using Cochlear Implant, aged between 2 and 5 years, who had been under speech therapy for at least 12 months. The study group was submitted to six sessions of musical stimulation. We used three instruments to quantify the evolution of the child: Children's Musical Identification, Musical Skills Development and Musical Aptitude Test - all of them were designed by one of the authors.
Results:
Musical stimulation had a positive effect, thereby improving the rhythm and the melody skills of the participants. The children showed a performance over 50% in the tasks undertaken. Musical stimulation had a positive effect, thereby improving the rhythm (p=0.0267) and the melody (p=0.0445) skills of the participants.
Conclusion:
We conclude that it is possible to develop a musical stimulation program that can be applied to children using Cochlear Implant inserted in aurioral rehabilitation, who benefit from the activities.
