Pitch Accuracy of Vocal Singing in Deaf Children With Bimodal Hearing and Bilateral Cochlear Implants.
Li Xu, Jing Yang, Emily Hahn and 2 others
PMID 34923555WHAT IT FOUND
Children with cochlear implants or hearing aids sing with less pitch accuracy than peers with normal hearing.
No implant configuration was superior to another. Standard predictors like age at implantation did not predict singing ability, suggesting vocal pitch control relies on different factors than speech perception.
Key findings
01Children with bilateral hearing devices showed significantly lower pitch accuracy in singing compared to children with normal hearing across all four measured metrics.
02There were no significant differences in singing pitch accuracy between children using bimodal devices, sequential bilateral implants, or simultaneous bilateral implants.
03Demographic and audiological variables such as age at testing and age at first implant did not significantly predict vocal singing accuracy in children with bilateral devices.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample sizes for the bimodal (13) and simultaneous implant (10) groups were small, which reduces the power to detect subtle differences between these groups. The study did not collect data on the children's music training or engagement, which is known to influence singing ability. Participants sang self-chosen songs, which varied in difficulty and pitch range, potentially introducing variability not present if a standardized song had been used. The study compared performance to a normal hearing group but did not directly compare perception to production within the same participants, leaving the link between hearing pitch and singing pitch unclear.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that bilateral hearing devices or bimodal configurations offer no advantage for singing. The lack of significant differences between device groups may be due to the small sample sizes and the fact that nearly all participants had early and consistent bilateral auditory stimulation, which could have leveled the playing field.