Research Of Music Perception In Children With Prelingual Deafness After Cochlear Implantation

Objective: To analyze the music perception of children with prelingual deafness after cochlear implantation(CI)by comparing the differences between gender,implantation age,inner ear morphology and cochlear implant types.Further,to demonstrate the correlation between music perception and speech ability in children after CI.Methods: A total of 76 children with prelingual deafness diagnosed as congenital bilateral severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss were studied.All children accepted CI surgery from 2012 to 2019 in Department of Otorhinolaryngology,Lanzhou University Second Hospital.Appropriate music perception evaluation methods were selected base on children’s age.Music perception of 52 children with bilateral CI(BCI)between 3-7 years old was evaluated by the music scale method.Besides,24 children with unilateral CI(UCI)between 7-14 years old were evaluated by the music test method.The potential influencers contributing to music perception have been studied by analyzing gender,implantation age,inner ear morphology and artificial cochlear implant types.In addition,the correlation between music perception and auditory speech ability has been demonstrated in this study.12 healthy children without professional musical background were selected as the control group compared with UCI children.Result:1.Among 52 BCI children with prelingual deafness,the average music scale score of the female group is higher than male group with a statistically significant difference(P<0.05).The average music scale score is different between four different groups of implantation age(P<0.01),specially,2-3 years old group is the highest.No significant difference(P>0.05)has been found between three groups with different inner ear morphology and the three groups with different artificial cochlear implant types.2.The music scale scores of 52 BCI children with prelingual deafness are significantly positively correlated with MAIS scores,monosyllable word test accuracy,monosyllable rhyme test accuracy,and monosyllable tone test accuracy(P<0.05).3.The pitch discrimination threshold of the stringed instrument F3 tone among 24 UCI children with prelingual deafness was 12.46±10.00 quartertones,and the pitch discrimination threshold of the piano C4 tone was 24.63±16.32 quartertones.The rhythm test accuracy rate and melody test accuracy were 63.96% ±12.71% and63.67%±11.68% respectively,which was significantly different compared with the control group(P<0.05).4.The pitch discrimination threshold of the stringed instrument F3 tone among 24 UCI children with prelingual deafness is negatively correlated with CAP score,single syllable tone accuracy,open phrase accuracy in a quiet environment and phrase accuracy in signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)5 environment(r=-0.470,r=-0.421,r=-0.469,r=-0.407 respectively,P<0.05).The pitch discrimination threshold of piano C4 tone has a significant negative correlation with the accuracy of single syllables(r=-0.516,P<0.05).The accuracy of melody is significantly positively correlated with the accuracy of monosyllable words,the accuracy of monosyllables,the accuracy of monosyllabic tones,the accuracy of spondee words,and the accuracy of phrase in SNR10 environment(r=0.399,r=0.401,r=0.419,r=0.510,r=0.409 respectively,P<0.05).Conclusions:1.Generally,children with prelingual deafness have poorer perception,comprehension and creativity of music after CI.Among them,older children with prelingual deafness after CI have worse recognition of pitch,melody,and rhythm than age-matched healthy children.2.The main factors affecting the music perception of prelingual deaf children after CI are gender and implantation age.Females or deaf children undergo CI surgery at the age of 2-3 have better music perception.The morphology of the inner ear,artificial cochlear brand and implant type are probably not contributing to music perception after surgery.3.The music perception of prelingual deaf children after CI is closely related to their auditory and speech ability.Namely,their ability to perceive pitch and melody is related to their ability to recognize and express vowels and tones in speech signals.The ability to recognize piano sounds is related to the recognition of consonants in speech signals and is related to their expressive ability.Furthermore,the ability of CI children to perceive melody is related to their speech ability in noisy environment.