Compositions for Cochlear Implantees Follow-On Project

For severely or profoundly deaf people who receive little benefit from conventional hearing aids a cochlear implant (CI) can provide useful speech perception. However, current devices are very poor at conveying pitch information and therefore, although many CI users express a desire to hear music again, they are often dissatisfied with the sound of music through their implant and some avoid music altogether.

Objectives for the original AHRC funded 'Compositions for Cochlear Implantees' research project included developing and evaluating rehabilitation materials to aid music appreciation for CI users. Feedback from CI users in a series of consultation sessions and workshops strongly suggested that a music rehabilitation programme should be interactive, creative, open-ended, educational and challenging. Furthermore, it was evident that CI users wanted a resource that not only enabled them to develop their music perception abilities, but also helped them to re-engage with music.

The 'Interactive Music Awareness Programme' (IMAP) was developed in response to the needs of CI users and can be run from a USB memory stick. It has an interface that links to software applications, which enable users to access music by creating, manipulating and playing with music in an open-ended way. In this follow-on project the IMAP will be developed further into an online resource, which will make it freely and readily accessible to CI users worldwide.

The IMAP will also be expanded to include artists and compositions from a wider range of genres to ensure that the IMAP will appeal, and be relevant to CI users with differing music preferences, hearing histories and cultural backgrounds. This will also help to expose CI users to music that may be more accessible through their implant, which they may not have previously considered. Artists currently featured include Philip Selway (Radiohead), Blueswerver, Robin Grey and Madelaine Hart.

Finally, IMAP use will be promoted and supported through a new training programme and workshop for service providers and CI users in the UK and through online training resources and guides for service providers and CI users further afield. It is anticipated that unique inter-professional learning opportunities will arise from bringing together audiologists, hearing therapists, teachers of the deaf, music therapists, musicians and other professionals that will ultimately benefit the provision of music rehabilitation and therapy.

User groups: It is estimated that over 219,000 people worldwide have received a CI and in 2005 the patient opportunity in Western Europe and the USA was estimated at 2.2 million. Acquired hearing loss in adults with an interest in music may impact especially on their quality of life if it means that they are no longer able to, or are confident in, participating in music-related activities and pursuits. The 'Interactive Music Awareness Programme' (IMAP) was developed in response to the needs of CI users and runs from a USB memory stick with applications that enable users to access music by creating, manipulating and playing with it. The online version that will be developed in this follow-on project will provide CI users with free tools to enhance their music perception abilities, leading to increased satisfaction and participation in music related activities, quality of life and creative output. Forum facilities will be included to promote social inclusion and enable the exchange of strategies for listening to music. User focus groups will inform the design of the online resource and a workshop will be developed to support it. Participants in the user focus groups will be directly contributing to the development of a new online music rehabilitation resource and they will be invited, as experts, to experiment with the resource and discuss issues concerning usability with academics and other professionals. CI users attending the workshop will receive training and support in using the online resource in a friendly environment where they will be able to meet with other CI users and exchange experiences. Whilst the 'target audience' of this follow-on project are severely or profoundly deaf people who use a CI, it is anticipated that the resource will appeal to the hearing impaired population in general and access will not be exclusive. Other music therapy client groups may additionally benefit from the resource and use by these client groups will be explored by a Music Therapist. It is anticipated that the resource will be widely advertised to CI users through a demonstration at a National CI Users Association event and it will be promoted to CI users by service providers, charities and via the 'Music Focus Group' website, which was set up in the original Compositions for Cochlear Implantees project: www.soton.ac.uk/mfg.

Service providers: An IMAP training event and a workshop good practice guide will be developed for service providers. In bringing together audiologists, hearing therapists, teachers of the deaf, music therapists, musicians and other professionals, this project will provide unique inter-professional learning opportunities that will ultimately benefit the provision of music rehabilitation by CI centres, charities for the deaf, local education services and care providers. Service providers in general will directly benefit from this follow-on project in being able to advise on, as well as provide, resources for music rehabilitation.

Public awareness and engagement: Part of the original Compositions for Cochlear Implantees project involved the design of a stand called 'Hearing Music', which features the IMAP and promotes public engagement with hearing science and music (www.soton.ac.uk/mfg/current_projects/outreach). This stand is one of seven activities that form the University's 'Bringing Research to Life' Roadshow, which is touring science festivals, centres and schools across the south of England. The original project will conclude in September with a public seminar and performance at the Turner Sims Concert Hall (www.soton.ac.uk/mfg/current_projects/concert). In the follow-on project the outreach materials developed in the original project will feature again in the University of Southampton's 2012/13 'TEAtime lecture series' (www.soton.ac.uk/ses/outreach/activities/teatime.page) with an accompanying workshop designed to inspire and engage A-level students in the fields of hearing science and music.