title: Investigation on the music perception skills of Italian children with cochlear implants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the music perception skills of a group of Italian-speaking children with cochlear implants to those of a group of normal hearing children; to analyze possible correlations between implanted children's musical skills and their demographics, clinical characteristics, phonological perception, and speech recognition and production abilities.
  
  
  METHODS
  18 implanted children aged 5-12 years and a reference group of 23 normal-hearing subjects with typical language development were enrolled. Both groups received a melody identification test and a song (i.e. original version) identification test. The implanted children also received a test battery aimed at assessing speech recognition, speech production and phoneme discrimination.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The implanted children scored significantly worse than the normal hearing subjects in both musical tests. In the cochlear implant group, phoneme discrimination abilities were significantly correlated with both melody and song identification skills, and length of device use was significantly correlated with song identification skills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Experience with device use and phonological perception had a moderate-to-strong correlation to implanted children's music perception abilities. In the light of these findings, it is reasonable to assume that a rehabilitation program specifically aimed at improving phonological perception could help pediatric cochlear implant recipients better understand the basic elements of music; moreover, a training aimed at improving the comprehension of the spectral elements of music could enhance implanted children's phonological skills.
authors: ENT Department A. Gemelli Hospital, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy. alessandroscorpecci@yahoo.it
authors: Alessandro
authors: A
authors: Scorpecci
authors: Felicia
authors: F
authors: Zagari
authors: Giorgia
authors: G
authors: Mari
authors: Sara
authors: S
authors: Giannantonio
authors: Lucia
authors: L
authors: D'Alatri
authors: Walter
authors: W
authors: Di Nardo
authors: Gaetano
authors: G
authors: Paludetti
mesh_terms: D001307:Auditory Perception; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D013067:Speech Perception