Musical Auditory Processing and Cochlear Implant

Introduction: Temporal auditory processing is the ability of perception or alteration of the sound in a defined time domain, a capacity that is closely related to the perception of speech and music, because somehow, hearing information relate to the time. Some authors have concluded from the results obtained that individuals who are CI users had similar performance in the temporal ordering test, when compared with individuals with normal hearing.

Objectives: To evaluate the temporal auditory processing in adults who are CI users and have postlingual hearing loss.

Methodology: This is a study of a series of cases of descriptive design, consisting of two adults with postlingual hearing loss, who are cochlear implant users. The first part consisted of simplified auditory processing evaluation and application of pattern tests of duration and frequency: FPT and DPT. The second part was an intervention, made from the elaboration of a program of musical assessment and auditory training, and then, performing a re-evaluation.

Results: For the FPT and DPT, each participant in their own particular way showed that training led to an improvement in the perception of the variation in volume and duration.

Conclusion: Regarding the temporal processing for the duration element, common between speech and music, there was an agreement among studies that this (duration), as well as the frequency is satisfactory in almost all the cases, including providing subsidies for the discrimination of familiar melodies and perception of tones for instruments such as piano, guitar, and percussion, in general.