Musica e impianto cocleare

Cochlear Implants (CI) have proven a very effective treatment for severe to profound hearing loss and for congenital or post-lingual deafness. Today more than 600,000 patients worldwide use a CI and congenitally deaf children and adults with an acquired deafness or profound hearing loss are implanted routinely in many countries. While the majority of CI patients achieve good speech perception, many experience a poor music performance – both self-reported levels of music enjoyment as well as measured ability to discriminate fundamental features in music are significantly lower than in normal hearing subjects. Decades of research and product development on CI signal processing, stimulation and rehabilitation has focused mainly on speech sounds and little on music listening and enjoyment. The poor music “delivery” in current CI devices stands in stark contrast to the general understanding that music is an important part of human wellbeing and Quality of Life. Recent scientific evidence points at music as an important auditory input for development of the human brain – both in terms of cognitive, emotional and auditory processing abilities. In this talk, aspects and limitations of music listening and production in users of current Cochlear Implant systems will be outlined. The talk will give perspectives on latest research and technology development for improving music experience for CI users.