[Outcomes of music perception assessment and appreciation questionnaire in postlingually-deafened cochlear implant...

Objective: To evaluate the music perception ability and appraisal status of cochlear implant adult users, then to compare those with normal-hearing subjects. Methods: The Iowa Musical Background and Appreciation Questionnaire (IMBAQ) was conducted to evaluate 20 cases of post-lingual deafness cochlear implant recipients (9 males, 11 females) aged 12-61(mean=28.8 yrs). Those music perception abilities were tested via Music Perceptional Evaluation Platform. Two kinds of tone(C#3, C#5)were carried out in the music perception test, including the Just Noticeable Difference (JND) Test, the Pitch-Direction Discrimination (PDD) Test and the Melody Contour Identification (MCI) Test. Meanwhile, the timbre identification tests were received by both normal hearing and cochlear implant patients. Results: The total outcomes of cochlear implant recipients were inferior to the normal hearing subjects (P<0.05). Both of the thresholds of JND (P=0.001) and PDD (P<0.001) had a significant difference, while comparing the two frequency values (C#3 and C#5) in cochlear implant adult users. IMBAQ results indicated the lower post-implantation music appreciation and engagement compared to pre-deafness levels. The longer duration of formal music training was positively correlated with better music perception performance in CI recipients. Conclusions: There still has a big gap between the cochlear implant group and normal hearing group in the music perception test. And different frequency value causes effect on the result of cochlear implant patient group.