A MUSICAL JOURNEY THROUGH THE RAINFOREST: A RESOURCE TO DEVELOP MUSICAL PITCH IN CHILDREN WITH COCHLEAR IMPLANTS

Rocca C (1,2), Driver S (3), Stark E, Gazibegovic D, Arnold L(2).

(1) Mary Hare Schools, UK;  (2) Advanced Bionics Europe; (3) Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital, UK.

Background: Children with cochlear implants (CI) have the ability to develop musical skills through natural experiences of singing and playing music. They are able to respond well to rhythmic, dynamic and tempo changes. More challenging is to develop a greater accuracy in the singing voice in relation to pitch production. A paediatric (re)habilitation resource was created, to develop early literacy, musical and speech and language skills. The stages of developing singing are mapped out in the sequence of songs, from the earliest stages of perception and production of rhythmic features, to the final stages of training the ability to control pitched notes and intervals in the voice. The resource is called ‘A Musical Journey through the Rainforest’. It provides a structured series of voice training exercises, set in a natural musical context, aiming to motivate and engage the child.

Aims: To demonstrate the pitch related musical development of pre-lingually deaf, CI children participating in an (re)habilitation programme based on the Rainforest resource.

Methods: CI children aged 2-6 years were included. They undertook a set of exercises from the Rainforest resource, that encompassed listening, singing, playing and recognition of melodic lines. Video recordings were made of all sessions and the recorded material was analysed by accuracy of pitch production.

Results: The Rainforest resource will be presented, together with the analysis of the video recordings, demonstrating increasing acquisition of musical pitch in the singing voice. The subjects were beginning to have a greater sense of pitch accuracy, which demonstrated the effect of the programme.

Conclusions: Although psycho-acoustic tests of CI hearing have tended to show disappointingly poor performance on pitch related tasks, structured (re)habilitation training programmes based within a musical context can lead to the development of the ability to sing in tune in CI children with latest generation devices.

E-mail: laurea@abionics.fr