Musical Perception Assessment of People With Hearing Impairment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose People with hearing impairment (HI) face numerous challenges that can be minimized with the use of hearing aids and cochlear implants. Despite technological advances in these assistive hearing devices, musical perception remains difficult for these people. Tests and protocols developed to assess the musical perception of this audience were the target of this systematic review, whose objective was to investigate how assessments of musical perception in people with HI are carried out. Method Searches for primary articles were carried out in the PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, and ASHAWire databases. Search results were managed using EndNote X9 software, and analysis was performed according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) Statement. Results The 16 cross-sectional included studies analyzed music perception data from people with HI compared to a control group of participants with normal hearing. Among these, four studies were selected to be included in a meta-analysis, performed with timbre and melody. Variability was observed in the tests and between the levels of auditory perception skills analyzed in relation to the components of music. With respect to the tests, sound stimuli generated by synthesizers were the most used stimuli; with the exception of timbre evaluation, the most frequent test environment was a booth with sound attenuation, and the average intensity for presenting sound stimuli was 70 dB SPL. The most evaluated sound component was pitch, followed by rhythm and timbre, with a pattern of responses based on adaptive and psychoacoustic methods. Conclusions The heterogeneity of the musical parameters and the auditory abilities evaluated by the tests is a fact that can compromise evidence found in this area of study. It is worth considering the quality of samples that were recorded with real musical instruments and digitized afterward, in comparison with synthesized samples that do not seem to accurately represent real instruments. The need to minimize semantic parallelism that involves the auditory skills and elements of music involved in the assessment of musical perception is highlighted.