Piano Performance and Identification of Melodic Contour and Pitch of Prelingually Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants After Three Months of Formal Music Instruction

Abstract

Significant developments in cochlear implant design have been made in the past two decades, with clearer speech and music perception serving as the main research foci (Advanced Bionics, 2009). However, poor spectral resolution produces an inadequate representation of the pitch information crucial for music appreciation (Chen, 2012; Galvin, Fu, & Shannon, 2009; Jung et al., 2012). Several studies suggest that daily exposure and practice are positively correlated factors for the effective music instruction of pediatric cochlear implant recipients (children CI users), enhancing their ability to recognize, enjoy, and reproduce music (Comeau, Koravand, & Markovic, 2017; Lo, Looi, Thompson et al., 2020). However, no studies have yet focused on teaching music outcomes and then assessing those taught skills to children CI users. Amid the plethora of research on music therapy for children CI users, no individual formal teaching methods have yet been proposed to investigate the outcomes of teaching classical music on piano. This thesis main goal was a comparative study of children CI users and NH children's piano performances, identification of melody, rhythm, and pitch discrimination after three months of individual formal piano training using a multi-sensory (auditory, visual, and tactile) approach and a customized aural modeling (no notation reading) teaching method with familiar songs. This study included 10 children CI users and 10 NH children aged 4 to 9 with no prior formal music training. The results indicate that in familiar song recognition tests, and MBEMA melody and rhythm tests, children CI users improved on their accuracy after the three months of piano lessons. Also, children CI users have reported enjoyment in practice and music listening overall.