title: Paediatric otitis media with effusion is connected to deficits in music perception.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study tested the hypothesis that children with otitis media with effusion (OME) attending a primary school are at risk of impairment of their musical skills. OME is characterized as an inflammation with accumulation of secretion in the tympanic cavity, leading to conductive hearing loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  Perception of music in children is assessed using the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Music Abilities (MBEMA). Listeners are required to judge whether two successive melodies are the same or different on tests of scale, contour, interval and rhythm. They are also queried by a memory test. A total of 92 children (49 girls and 43 boys), aged 6.0-8.0 years (mean 7.3, SD 0.7), attending a music school, were examined using the MBEMA. Twenty-three children were allocated to the OME group, while the remaining 69 to the control group. Age and gender distribution did not differ between children with OME and the controls. All participants had normal bone conduction hearing thresholds. The conductive hearing loss of the children with OME did not exceed 40 dB at any frequency. Their OME was bilateral and had lasted 3-9 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The obtained scale, rhythm and total MBEMA scores were higher in the control group than in the OME group, with statistically significant differences for scale and rhythm scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OME can influence music perception in children at the beginning of their school education. OME correlates with both pitch- and rhythm-related aspects of music perception.
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Philology , Pedagogical University of Kraków , Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krzyżak
authors.affiliation: b Department of Otorhinolaryngology , St. John Grande's Hospital , Kraków , Poland.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zagólski
authors.affiliation: c Composition, Interpretation and Musical Education Faculty , Academy of Music in Kraków , Poland.
authors.forename: Michał
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pawełek
authors.affiliation: d Department of Otorhinolaryngology , Collegium Medicum Jagiellonian University , Kraków , Poland.
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stręk
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000367:Age Factors; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009146:Music; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011446:Prospective Studies
keywords: Children; hearing; otitis media with effusion; perception of music