title: A music quality rating test battery for cochlear implant users to compare the FSP and HDCIS strategies for music appreciation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to develop a music quality rating test battery (MQRTB) and pilot test it by comparing appraisal ratings from cochlear implant (CI) recipients using the fine-structure processing (FSP) and high-definition continuous interleaved sampling (HDCIS) speech processing strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  The development of the MQRTB involved three stages: (1) Selection of test items for the MQRTB; (2) Verification of its length and complexity with normally-hearing individuals; and (3) Pilot testing with CI recipients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Part 1 involved 65 adult listeners, Part 2 involved 10 normally-hearing adults, and Part 3 involved five adult MED-EL CI recipients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The MQRTB consisted of ten songs, with ratings made on scales assessing pleasantness, naturalness, richness, fullness, sharpness, and roughness. Results of the pilot study, which compared FSP and HDCIS for music, indicated that acclimatization to a strategy had a significant effect on ratings (p < 0.05). When acclimatized to FSP, the group rated FSP as closer to 'exactly as I want it to sound' than HDCIS (p < 0.05), and that HDCIS sounded significantly sharper and rougher than FSP. However when acclimatized to HDCIS, there were no significant differences between ratings. There was no effect of song familiarity or genre on ratings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall the results suggest that the use of FSP as the default strategy for MED-EL recipients would have a positive effect on music appreciation, and that the MQRTB is an effective tool for assessing music sound quality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Disorders, The University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. valerie.looi@canterbury.ac.nz
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Looi
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: Ilona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sucher
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001307:Auditory Perception; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted