Music and lexical tone perception in Chinese adult cochlear implant users

Sustainable Benefits of High Variability Phonetic Training in Mandarin-speaking Kindergarteners With Cochlear Implants: Evidence From Categorical Perception of Lexical Tones

OBJECTIVES

Although pitch reception poses a great challenge for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs), formal auditory training (e.g., high variability phonetic training [HVPT]) has been shown to provide direct benefits in pitch-related perceptual performances such as lexical tone recognition for CI users. As lexical tones in spoken language are expressed with a multitude of distinct spectral, temporal, and intensity cues, it is important to determine the sources of training benefits for CI users. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a rigorous fine-scale evaluation with the categorical perception (CP) paradigm to control the acoustic parameters and test the efficacy and sustainability of HVPT for Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI recipients. The main hypothesis was that HVPT-induced perceptual learning would greatly enhance CI users' ability to extract the primary pitch contours from spoken words for lexical tone identification and discrimination. Furthermore, individual differences in immediate and long-term gains from training would likely be attributable to baseline performance and duration of CI use.

DESIGN

Twenty-eight prelingually deaf Mandarin-speaking kindergarteners with CIs were tested. Half of them received five sessions of HVPT within a period of 3 weeks. The other half served as control who did not receive the formal training. Two classical CP tasks on a tonal continuum from Mandarin tone 1 (high-flat in pitch) to tone 2 (mid-rising in pitch) with fixed acoustic features of duration and intensity were administered before (pretest), immediately after (posttest), and 10 weeks posttraining termination (follow-up test). Participants were instructed to either label a speech stimulus along the continuum (i.e., identification task) or determine whether a pair of stimuli separated by zero or two steps from the continuum was the same or different (i.e., discrimination task). Identification function measures (i.e., boundary position and boundary width) and discrimination function scores (i.e., between-category score, within-category score, and peakedness score) were assessed for each child participant across the three test sessions.

RESULTS

Linear mixed-effects (LME) models showed significant training-induced enhancement in lexical tone categorization with significantly narrower boundary width and better between-category discrimination in the immediate posttest over pretest for the trainees. Furthermore, training-induced gains were reliably retained in the follow-up test 10 weeks after training. By contrast, no significant changes were found in the control group across sessions. Regression analysis confirmed that baseline performance (i.e., boundary width in the pretest session) and duration of CI use were significant predictors for the magnitude of training-induced benefits.

CONCLUSIONS

The stringent CP tests with synthesized stimuli that excluded acoustic cues other than the pitch contour and were never used in training showed strong evidence for the efficacy of HVPT in yielding immediate and sustained improvement in lexical tone categorization for Mandarin-speaking children with CIs. The training results and individual differences have remarkable implications for developing personalized computer-based short-term HVPT protocols that may have sustainable long-term benefits for aural rehabilitation in this clinical population.

Tone perception development in Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to examine the longer-term effects of cochlear implant (CI) use on tone perception by evaluating improvement in Mandarin tone recognition in children with CIs 2 and 3 years post CI activation, and to explore the effects of implant age, chronological age and duration of CI use on the development of tone perception.

METHODS

Tone perception was assessed in 29 bilateral profound hearing impaired children (mean chronological age = 4.6 years, SD = 0.7 years) with unilateral CIs at 24 and 36 months after CI activation using the tone perception subtest in the Mandarin Early Speech Perception (MESP-T) test.

RESULTS

Children's tone recognition for tone pairs and individual tones improved significantly between 2 and 3 years post CI use, showing an increase in average tone recognition score from 73.2% to 81.8%, which was significantly higher than chance level (i.e. 50%). There was no significant correlation between tone recognition ability and either implant age or chronological age at two evaluation points. Further analysis revealed that the tone recognition score for tone pair 2-3 was significantly lower than that for other tone pairs except for tone pair 2-4.

CONCLUSIONS

Longer CI experience can significantly improve tone recognition ability in CI children between 2 and 3 years post CI activation.

Cochlear-implant Mandarin tone recognition with a disyllabic word corpus

Despite pitch being considered the primary cue for discriminating lexical tones, there are secondary cues such as loudness contour and duration, which may allow some cochlear implant (CI) tone discrimination even with severely degraded pitch cues. To isolate pitch cues from other cues, we developed a new disyllabic word stimulus set (Di) whose primary (pitch) and secondary (loudness) cue varied independently. This Di set consists of 270 disyllabic words, each having a distinct meaning depending on the perceived tone. Thus, listeners who hear the primary pitch cue clearly may hear a different meaning from listeners who struggle with the pitch cue and must rely on the secondary loudness contour. A lexical tone recognition experiment was conducted, which compared Di with a monosyllabic set of natural recordings. Seventeen CI users and eight normal-hearing (NH) listeners took part in the experiment. Results showed that CI users had poorer pitch cues encoding and their tone recognition performance was significantly influenced by the “missing” or “confusing” secondary cues with the Di corpus. The pitch-contour-based tone recognition is still far from satisfactory for CI users compared to NH listeners, even if some appear to integrate multiple cues to achieve high scores. This disyllabic corpus could be used to examine the performance of pitch recognition of CI users and the effectiveness of pitch cue enhancement based Mandarin tone enhancement strategies. The Di corpus is freely available online: https://github.com/BetterCI/DiTone.

Assessment of music experience after cochlear implantation: A review of current tools and their utilization

Objective

To provide an overview of the current available music assessment tools after cochlear implantation (CI); to report on the utilization of music assessments in the literature; to propose potential future directions in music assessment after CI.

Methods

A thorough search was performed in PubMed, Embase, and The Cochrane Library through October 31, 2020. MeSH search terms, keywords, and phrases included “cochlear implant,” “cochlear prosthesis,” “auditory prosthesis,” “music,” “music assessment,” “music questionnaire,” “music perception,” “music enjoyment, and “music experience.” Potentially relevant studies were reviewed for inclusion, with particular focus on assessments developed specifically for the cochlear implant population and intended for widespread use.

Results/conclusions

Six hundred and forty-three studies were screened for relevance to assessment of music experience among cochlear implantees. Eighty-one studies ultimately met criteria for inclusion. There are multiple validated tools for assessment of music experience after cochlear implantation, each of which provide slightly differing insights into the patients’ subjective and/or objective post-activation experience. However, no single assessment tool has been adopted into widespread use and thus, much of the literature pertaining to this topic evaluates outcomes non-uniformly, including single-use assessments designed specifically for the study at hand. The lack of a widely accepted universal tool for assessment of music limits our collective understanding the contributory and mitigating factors applicable to current music experience of cochlear implantees, and limits our ability to uniformly evaluate the success of new implant technologies or music training paradigms.

Bimodal benefits in Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant users for music perception and tone recognition

BACKGROUND

Cochlear implant (CI) users have difficulty appreciating music and perceiving lexical tones in Mandarin Chinese. Wearing a hearing aid (HA) in the contralateral ear for bimodal hearing may provide additional benefits.

OBJECTIVES

To measure the bimodal benefits of music perception and tone recognition and to investigate the relationship between the two in Mandarin-speaking bimodal CI subjects.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sixteen Mandarin-speaking bimodal CI subjects (aged between 16 and 49 years) participated in the study. Music perception (pitch discrimination, melody discrimination and instrument identification) and lexical tone recognition were tested with electric stimulation (CI alone) or bimodal stimulation (CI + HA).

RESULTS

Subjects showed a significant bimodal benefit in tone recognition in quiet and noise, and in all music perception tests. The bimodal benefit for tone recognition in noise was significantly correlated with that of pitch discrimination thresholds and instrument identification scores.

CONCLUSION

Mandarin-speaking bimodal CI users achieved better music perception and tone recognition ability with CI + HA than with CI alone. The bimodal benefit of tone recognition was significantly correlated with that of music perception.

Bimodal Benefits Revealed by Categorical Perception of Lexical Tones in Mandarin-Speaking Kindergarteners With a Cochlear Implant and a Contralateral Hearing Aid

Purpose Pitch reception poses challenges for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs), and adding a hearing aid (HA) in the nonimplanted ear is potentially beneficial. The current study used fine-scale synthetic speech stimuli to investigate the bimodal benefit for lexical tone categorization in Mandarin-speaking kindergarteners using a CI and an HA in opposite ears. Method The data were collected from 16 participants who were required to complete two classical tasks for speech categorical perception (CP) with CI + HA device condition and CI alone condition. Linear mixed-effects models were constructed to evaluate the identification and discrimination scores across different device conditions. Results The bimodal kindergarteners showed CP for the continuum varying from Mandarin Tone 1 and Tone 2. Moreover, the additional acoustic information from the contralateral HA contributes to improved lexical tone categorization, with a steeper slope, a higher discrimination score of between-category stimuli pair, and an improved peakedness score (i.e., an increased benefit magnitude for discriminations of between-category over within-category pairs) for the CI + HA condition than the CI alone condition. The bimodal kindergarteners with better residual hearing thresholds at 250 Hz level in the nonimplanted ear could perceive lexical tones more categorically. Conclusion The enhanced CP results with bimodal listening provide clear evidence for the clinical practice to fit a contralateral HA in the nonimplanted ear in kindergarteners with unilateral CIs with direct benefits from the low-frequency acoustic hearing.

Music perception and training for pediatric cochlear implant users

INTRODUCTION

Cochlear implants (CIs) are biomedical devices that restore sound perception for people with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. Most postlingually deafened CI users are able to achieve excellent speech recognition in quiet environments. However, current CI sound processors remain limited in their ability to deliver fine spectrotemporal information, making it difficult for CI users to perceive complex sounds. Limited access to complex acoustic cues such as music, environmental sounds, lexical tones, and voice emotion may have significant ramifications on quality of life, social development, and community interactions.

AREAS COVERED

The purpose of this review article is to summarize the literature on CIs and music perception, with an emphasis on music training in pediatric CI recipients. The findings have implications on our understanding of noninvasive, accessible methods for improving auditory processing and may help advance our ability to improve sound quality and performance for implantees.

EXPERT OPINION

Music training, particularly in the pediatric population, may be able to continue to enhance auditory processing even after performance plateaus. The effects of these training programs appear generalizable to non-trained musical tasks, speech prosody and, emotion perception. Future studies should employ rigorous control groups involving a non-musical acoustic intervention, standardized auditory stimuli, and the provision of feedback.

Mandarin lexical tone recognition in bimodal cochlear implant users

Objective: To assess the recognition of lexical tones in Mandarin-speaking bimodal cochlear implant (CI) subjects.Design: Lexical tone recognition in quiet and noise (SNR= +5 dB) was measured with electric stimulation (CI alone) or bimodal stimulation (CI + hearing aid (HA)). The recognition and confusion rates of the four tones (T1, T2, T3 and T4) were analysed. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationship between hearing levels in the contralateral ear and bimodal benefits.Study sample: Twenty native Mandarin-speaking bimodal CI users, with ages ranging from 16-49 years.Results: Relative to the CI alone, mean tone recognition with the CI + HA improved significantly from 84.1-92.1% correct in quiet (+8 points) and from 57.9-73.1% correct in noise (+15.2 points). Tone confusions between T2 and T3 were the most prominent in all test conditions, and T4 tended to be labelled as T3 in noise. There was no significant correlation between the bimodal benefits for tone recognition and the unaided or HA-aided pure-tone thresholds at 0.25 kHz.Conclusion: Listeners with CI + HA exhibited significantly better tone recognition than with CI alone. The bimodal advantage for tone recognition was greater in noise than in quiet, perhaps due to a ceiling effect in quiet.

Processing of Acoustic Information in Lexical Tone Production and Perception by Pediatric Cochlear Implant Recipients

Purpose: This study examined the utilization of multiple types of acoustic information in lexical tone production and perception by pediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients who are native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Methods: Lexical tones were recorded from CI recipients and their peers with normal hearing (NH). Each participant was asked to produce a disyllabic word, yan jing, with which the first syllable was pronounced as Tone 3 (a low dipping tone) while the second syllable was pronounced as Tone 1 (a high level tone, meaning "eyes") or as Tone 4 (a high falling tone, meaning "eyeglasses"). In addition, a parametric manipulation in fundamental frequency (F0) and duration of Tones 1 and 4 used in a lexical tone recognition task in Peng et al. (2017) was adopted to evaluate the perceptual reliance on each dimension. Results: Mixed-effect analyses of duration, intensity, and F0 cues revealed that NH children focused exclusively on marking distinct F0 contours, while CI participants shortened Tone 4 or prolonged Tone 1 to enhance their contrast. In line with these production strategies, NH children relied primarily on F0 cues to identify the two tones, whereas CI children showed greater reliance on duration cues. Moreover, CI participants who placed greater perceptual weight on duration cues also tended to exhibit smaller changes in their F0 production. Conclusion: Pediatric CI recipients appear to contrast the secondary acoustic dimension (duration) in addition to F0 contours for both lexical tone production and perception. These findings suggest that perception and production strategies of lexical tones are well coupled in this pediatric CI population.

Music Training Can Improve Music and Speech Perception in Pediatric Mandarin-Speaking Cochlear Implant Users

Due to limited spectral resolution, cochlear implants (CIs) do not convey pitch information very well. Pitch cues are important for perception of music and tonal language; it is possible that music training may improve performance in both listening tasks. In this study, we investigated music training outcomes in terms of perception of music, lexical tones, and sentences in 22 young (4.8 to 9.3 years old), prelingually deaf Mandarin-speaking CI users. Music perception was measured using a melodic contour identification (MCI) task. Speech perception was measured for lexical tones and sentences presented in quiet. Subjects received 8 weeks of MCI training using pitch ranges not used for testing. Music and speech perception were measured at 2, 4, and 8 weeks after training was begun; follow-up measures were made 4 weeks after training was stopped. Mean baseline performance was 33.2%, 76.9%, and 45.8% correct for MCI, lexical tone recognition, and sentence recognition, respectively. After 8 weeks of MCI training, mean performance significantly improved by 22.9, 14.4, and 14.5 percentage points for MCI, lexical tone recognition, and sentence recognition, respectively (p < .05 in all cases). Four weeks after training was stopped, there was no significant change in posttraining music and speech performance. The results suggest that music training can significantly improve pediatric Mandarin-speaking CI users’ music and speech perception.

The Advances in Hearing Rehabilitation and Cochlear Implants in China

Hearing loss (HL) is a common sensory impairment in humans, with significant economic and social impacts. With nearly 20% of the world's population, China has focused on economic development and health awareness to improve the care for its hearing-impaired population. Recently, the Chinese government has initiated national programs such as the China Disabled Persons Federation to fund prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of hearing impairment. Newborn hearing screening and auditory rehabilitation programs in China have expanded exponentially with government support. While facing many challenges and overcoming obstacles, cochlear implantation (CI) programs in China have also experienced considerable growth. This review discusses the implementation of CI programs for HL in China and presents current HL data including epidemiology, newborn hearing screening, and determination of genetic etiologies. Sharing the experience in Chinese auditory rehabilitation and CI programs will shine a light on the developmental pathway of healthcare infrastructure to meet emerging needs of the hearing-impaired population in other developing countries.

A Follow-Up Study on Music and Lexical Tone Perception in Adult Mandarin-Speaking Cochlear Implant Users

OBJECTIVE

The aim was to evaluate the development of music and lexical tone perception in Mandarin-speaking adult cochlear implant (CI) users over a period of 1 year.

STUDY DESIGN

Prospective patient series.

SETTING

Tertiary hospital and research institute.

PATIENTS

Twenty five adult CI users, with ages ranging from 19 to 75 years old, participated in a year-long follow-up evaluation. There were also 40 normal hearing adult subjects who participated as a control group to provide the normal value range.

INTERVENTIONS

Musical sounds in cochlear implants (Mu.S.I.C.) test battery was undertaken to evaluate music perception ability. Mandarin Tone Identification in Noise Test (M-TINT) was used to assess lexical tone recognition. The tests for CI users were completed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the CI switch-on.

MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES

Quantitative and statistical analysis of their results from music and tone perception tests.

RESULTS

The performance of music perception and tone recognition both demonstrated an overall improvement in outcomes during the entire 1-year follow-up process. The increasing trends were obvious in the early period especially in the first 6 months after switch-on. There was a significant improvement in the melody discrimination (p < 0.01), timbre identification (p < 0.001), tone recognition in quiet (p < 0.0001), and in noise (p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

Adult Mandarin-speaking CI users show an increasingly improved performance on music and tone perception during the 1-year follow-up. The improvement was the most prominent in the first 6 months of CI use. It is essential to strengthen the rehabilitation training within the first 6 months.

The effectiveness of sound-processing strategies on tonal language cochlear implant users: A systematic review

IMPORTANCE

Contemporary cochlear implants (CIs) are well established as a technology for people with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss, with their effectiveness having been widely reported. However, for tonal language CI recipients, speech perception remains a challenge: Conventional signal processing strategies have been demonstrated to possibly provide insufficient information to encode tonal cues, and CI recipients have exhibited considerable deficits in tone perception. Thus, some tonal language-oriented sound-processing strategies have been introduced. The effects of available tonal language-oriented strategies on tone perception are reviewed and evaluated in this study. The results may aid in designing and improving tonal language-appropriate sound-processing strategies for CI recipients.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this systematic review was to investigate the effects of tonal-language-oriented signal processing strategies on tone perception, music perception, word and sentence recognition.

METHODS

To evaluate the effects of tonal language-oriented strategies on tone perception, we conducted a systematic review. We searched for relevant reports dated from January 1979 to July 2017 using PubMed, Cochrane Library, EBSCO, Web of Science, EMBASE, and 4 Chinese periodical databases (CBMdisc, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang Data).

RESULTS

According to our search strategy, 672 potentially eligible studies were retrieved from the databases, with 12 of these studies included in the final review after a 4-stage selection process. The majority of sound-processing strategies designed for tonal language were HiResolution® with Fidelity 120 (HiRes 120), fine structure processing, temporal fine structure (TFS), and C-tone. Generally, acute or short-term comparisons between the tonal language-oriented strategies and the conventional strategy did not reveal statistically significant differences in speech perception (or show a small improvement). However, a tendency toward improved tone perception and subjectively reported overall preferred sound quality was observed with the tonal language-oriented strategies.

INTERPRETATION

Conventional signal processing strategies typically provided very limited F0 information via temporal envelopes delivered to the stimulating electrodes. In contrast, tonal language-oriented coding strategies attempted to present more spectral information and TFS cues required for tone perception. Thus, a tendency of improved performance in tonal language perception in CI users was shown.

Processing of Acoustic Cues in Lexical-Tone Identification by Pediatric Cochlear-Implant Recipients

PURPOSE

The objective was to investigate acoustic cue processing in lexical-tone recognition by pediatric cochlear-implant (CI) recipients who are native Mandarin speakers.

METHOD

Lexical-tone recognition was assessed in pediatric CI recipients and listeners with normal hearing (NH) in 2 tasks. In Task 1, participants identified naturally uttered words that were contrastive in lexical tones. For Task 2, a disyllabic word (yanjing) was manipulated orthogonally, varying in fundamental-frequency (F0) contours and duration patterns. Participants identified each token with the second syllable jing pronounced with Tone 1 (a high level tone) as eyes or with Tone 4 (a high falling tone) as eyeglasses.

RESULTS

CI participants' recognition accuracy was significantly lower than NH listeners' in Task 1. In Task 2, CI participants' reliance on F0 contours was significantly less than that of NH listeners; their reliance on duration patterns, however, was significantly higher than that of NH listeners. Both CI and NH listeners' performance in Task 1 was significantly correlated with their reliance on F0 contours in Task 2.

CONCLUSION

For pediatric CI recipients, lexical-tone recognition using naturally uttered words is primarily related to their reliance on F0 contours, although duration patterns may be used as an additional cue.

Mandarin Tone Identification in Cochlear Implant Users Using Exaggerated Pitch Contours

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether exaggerating the variations in fundamental frequency (F0) contours of Mandarin-based pitch fluctuations could improve tone identification by cochlear implant (CI) users.

METHODS

Twelve normal-hearing (NH) listeners and 11 CI users were tested for their ability to recognize F0 contours modeled after Mandarin tones, in 4- or 5-alternatives forced-choice paradigms. Two types of stimuli were used: computer-generated complex tones and voice recordings. Four contours were tested with voice recordings: flat, rise, fall, and dip. A fifth contour, peak, was added for complex tones. The F0 range of each contour was varied in an adaptive manner. A maximum-likelihood technique was used to fit a psychometric function to the performance data and extract threshold at 70% accuracy.

RESULTS

As F0 range increased, performance in tone identification improved but did not reach 100% for some CI users, suggesting that confusions between contours could always be made even with extremely exaggerated contours. Compared with NH participants, CI users required substantially larger F0 ranges to identify tones, on the order of 9.3 versus 0.4 semitones. CI users achieved better performance for complex tones than for voice recordings, whereas the reverse was true for NH participants. Confusion matrices showed that the "flat" tone was often a default option when the tone contour's F0 range presented was too narrow for participants to respond correctly.

CONCLUSION

These results demonstrate markedly impaired ability for CI users to identify tonal contours, but suggest that the use of exaggerated pitch contours may be helpful for tonal language perception.

Mandarin Lexical Tone Acquisition in Cochlear Implant Users With Prelingual Deafness: A Review

PURPOSE

The purpose of this review article is to synthesize evidence from the fields of developmental linguistics and cochlear implant technology relevant to the production and perception of Mandarin lexical tone in cochlear implant users with prelingual deafness. The aim of this review was to identify potential factors that determine outcomes for tonal-language speaking cochlear implant users and possible directions for further research.

METHOD

A computerized database search of MEDLINE, CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, Web of Science, and Google Scholar was undertaken in June and July 2014. Search terms used were lexical tone AND tonal language, speech development AND/OR speech production AND/OR speech perception AND cochlear implants, and pitch perception AND cochlear implants, anywhere in the title or abstract.

CONCLUSION

Despite the demonstrated limitations of pitch perception in cochlear implant users, there is some evidence that typical production and perception of lexical tone is possible by cochlear implant users with prelingual deafness. Further studies are required to determine the factors that contribute to better outcomes to inform rehabilitation processes for cochlear implant users in tonal-language environments.

Mandarin speech-in-noise and tone recognition using vocoder simulations of the temporal limits encoder for cochlear implants

Temporal envelope-based signal processing strategies are widely used in cochlear-implant (CI) systems. It is well recognized that the inability to convey temporal fine structure (TFS) in the stimuli limits CI users' performance, but it is still unclear how to effectively deliver the TFS. A strategy known as the temporal limits encoder (TLE), which employs an approach to derive the amplitude modulator to generate the stimuli coded in an interleaved-sampling strategy, has recently been proposed. The TLE modulator contains information related to the original temporal envelope and a slow-varying TFS from the band signal. In this paper, theoretical analyses are presented to demonstrate the superiority of TLE compared with two existing strategies, the clinically available continuous-interleaved-sampling (CIS) strategy and the experimental harmonic-single-sideband-encoder strategy. Perceptual experiments with vocoder simulations in normal-hearing listeners are conducted to compare the performance of TLE and CIS on two tasks (i.e., Mandarin speech reception in babble noise and tone recognition in quiet). The performance of the TLE modulator is mostly better than (for most tone-band vocoders) or comparable to (for noise-band vocoders) the CIS modulator on both tasks. This work implies that there is some potential for improving the representation of TFS with CIs by using a TLE strategy.

Melodic pitch perception and lexical tone perception in Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant users

OBJECTIVES

To examine the relationship between lexical tone perception and melodic pitch perception in Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant (CI) users and to investigate the influence of previous acoustic hearing on CI users' speech and music perception.

DESIGN

Lexical tone perception and melodic contour identification (MCI) were measured in 21 prelingual and 11 postlingual young (aged 6-26 years) Mandarin-speaking CI users. Lexical tone recognition was measured for four tonal patterns: tone 1 (flat F0), tone 2 (rising F0), tone 3 (falling-rising F0), and tone 4 (falling F0). MCI was measured using nine five-note melodic patterns that contained changes in pitch contour, as well as different semitone spacing between notes.

RESULTS

Lexical tone recognition was generally good (overall mean = 81% correct), and there was no significant difference between subject groups. MCI performance was generally poor (mean = 23% correct). MCI performance was significantly better for postlingual (mean = 32% correct) than for prelingual CI participants (mean = 18% correct). After correcting for outliers, there was no significant correlation between lexical tone recognition and MCI performance for prelingual or postlingual CI participants. Age at deafness was significantly correlated with MCI performance only for postlingual participants. CI experience was significantly correlated with MCI performance for both prelingual and postlingual participants. Duration of deafness was significantly correlated with tone recognition only for prelingual participants.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the prevalence of pitch cues in Mandarin, the present CI participants had great difficulty perceiving melodic pitch. The availability of amplitude and duration cues in lexical tones most likely compensated for the poor pitch perception observed with these CI listeners. Previous acoustic hearing experience seemed to benefit postlingual CI users' melodic pitch perception. Longer CI experience was associated with better MCI performance for both subject groups, suggesting that CI users' music perception may improve as they gain experience with their device.

Benefits of music training in mandarin-speaking pediatric cochlear implant users

PURPOSE

The aims of this study were to assess young (5- to 10-year-old) Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant (CI) users' musical pitch perception and to assess the benefits of computer-based home training on performance.

METHOD

Melodic contour identification (MCI) was used to assess musical pitch perception in 14 Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI users; the instrument timbre and the contour length were varied as experimental parameters. Six subjects received subsequent MCI training on their home computer in which auditory and visual feedback were provided.

RESULTS

MCI performance was generally poor (grand mean=33.3% correct) and highly variable, with scores ranging from 9.3% to 98.1% correct; there was no significant effect of instrument timbre or contour length on performance (p>.05). After 4 weeks of training, performance sharply improved. Follow-up measures that were conducted 8 weeks after training was stopped showed no significant decline in MCI performance. For the 6 trained subjects, there was a significant effect of contour length for the training and follow-up measures.

CONCLUSION

These preliminary data suggest that although baseline MCI performance initially may be poor, training may greatly improve Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI users' melodic pitch perception.

Mandarin lexical tone recognition in sensorineural hearing-impaired listeners and cochlear implant users

CONCLUSIONS

As the hearing loss becomes more severe, the tone recognition performance of hearing-impaired listeners gradually but slowly reduces. The tone recognition performance of cochlear implant listeners is below or close to the performance of severely hearing-impaired listeners.

OBJECTIVES

The present study aimed to investigate the Mandarin lexical tone recognition performance of sensorineural hearing-impaired listeners and post-lingually deafened cochlear implant users.

METHODS

Tone recognition performance was measured for 30 normal-hearing subjects, 41sensorineural hearing-impaired listeners, and 12 cochlear implant users using 128 monosyllables recorded by a male and a female adult native Mandarin speaker.

RESULTS

The results indicated that the accuracy of tone recognition was 99.3%, 96.4%, 93.7%, 83.9%, and 81.0% for the normal-hearing, moderate, moderate to severe, severely hearing-impaired, and cochlear implant subjects, respectively. For the hearing-impaired subjects, a significantly negative correlation was observed between tone recognition performance and the audiometric hearing thresholds. For cochlear implant subjects, Tone 3 was the easiest one to perceive and Tone 2 was the hardest one to perceive. They tended to misperceive Tone 1 as Tone 2, and misperceive Tone 2 as Tones 1 and 3.