The Impact of Musical Aptitude on Cochlear Implant Auditory Rehabilitation and Peak Performances - Over 430 million people have disabling hearing loss and are deprived of many life experiences and social interactions. Cochlear implants (CI) offer life-altering hearing restoration for deafened individuals. Despite advances in CI technology, there is significant variability in performance – and many recipients struggle to process complex sounds in real-world environments. Furthermore, we do not know how to predict which individual will adapt quickly and well to electrical hearing and which individual will not. As a result, providers adopt a “one-size-fits-all” approach towards aural rehabilitation, where every individual undergoes the same auditory rehabilitation approach despite differences in perceptual skill sets and hearing needs. There are some studies that suggest CI users with musical experience do better with electrical hearing than those without musical experience. Our group found that while there is a positive trend in the relationship between complex sound processing performance and years of musical experience among CI users, musical experience does not explain the whole story. We observed a wide variance in performance among CI users with no musical experience –some of them performed as well as normal hearing listeners on complex auditory tasks. There is additional evidence that psychophysical measures may be impactful in detecting perceptual skills across the spectrum and identifying individuals who would benefit the most from auditory training interventions. These findings imply that musical aptitude tests (as a psychophysical measure) should be considered when counseling a CI candidate on expected outcomes and during aural rehabilitation. Given this unmet need, our project’s main objective is to understand the relationship between musical aptitude and auditory rehabilitation in CI users. In AIM1, we will measure the relationship between musical aptitude, years of formal musical training, and peak performances in adult CI users. In AIM2, we will evaluate the relationship between musical aptitude and performance slopes during the period of newly activated auditory rehabilitation. Completion of these AIMs will advance our understanding of perceptual differences in auditory rehabilitation and sound processing. It is our hope that psychophysical measures may be used to provide more tailored and effective auditory rehabilitation interventions for CI users.
