Impact of Music Therapy on Speech Intelligibility in Noise With Cochlear Implants

NCT ID: NCT06734897

Last Updated: 2025-11-25

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

30 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2025-06-11

Study Completion Date

2027-02-28

Brief Summary

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The aim of this clinical study is to investigate whether six months of music therapy immediately after CI implantation helps to improve speech intelligibility in noise. To investigate the effect of music therapy, a randomized study will be conducted with a "start group A" and a "delayed group" B (control group 1). Group A will start six months of music therapy immediately after cochlear implantation, group B six months later. A further control group 2 will not receive any music therapy. The speech intelligibility values resulting from the OLSA sentence test will be compared between the three groups after six and twelve months.

Detailed Description

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Improved speech perception is a main objective for any hearing rehabilitation using hearing devices. Even more challenging is speech comprehension in noisy environments.

Music therapy is one of the approaches that can assist users with achieving better performance in situations of difficult listening comprehension such as speech perception in noisy environments. One such music therapy concept developed in Heidelberg is based on the parallelism of language and music, whereby targeted training using musical parameters such as rhythm, pitch and timbre can have an impact on the ability to perceive speech. At present, the fact that music therapy can help improve speech intelligibility is primarily based on research with normal hearing listeners.

Nowadays, cochlear implant technology has the primary goal to restore functional hearing and speech perception in people with bilateral severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. Good results will be achieved by post lingually deafened CI users regarding the understanding of open-set sentences presented in quiet. But our surroundings are rarely quiet. Therefore, the goal of good rehabilitation must be to ensure that CI users also can cope well in our noisy environment. Music therapy is thus intended to be the crucial piece in the puzzle that enables such understanding in noisy situations.

This study aims to investigate the benefits of music therapy for cochlear implant users in terms of their speech intelligibility performance in noise. This is an explorative study to determine suitable parameters such as the time point of starting the music.

Conditions

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Music Therapy After Cochlear Implantation

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

This is a randomized study with a "start group A" and a "delayed group" B. Group A will begin six months of music therapy immediately after cochlear implantation, group B six months later. Another group consists of persons who do not receive any music therapy, will form the control group. The speech intelligibility values resulting from the OLSA sentence test are compared between the three groups after six and twelve months.
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Group A

Group A will begin six months of music therapy immediately after cochlear implantation.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

music therapy after Cochlear Implantation

Intervention Type OTHER

The music therapy is specially designed for the rehabilitation of CI-patients. It focuses on learning to distinguish different sound sources, especially when they occur at the same time. Training involves familiarization with different aspects of music such as rhythm, melody, and pitch while at the same time also getting to know the sound of different musical instruments, including singing. The training is also aimed at learning to concentrate on spoken instructions while the music is going on. This latter aim is fundamental to the goal of this study and plays a central role in the therapy.

Group B

Group B is the delayed group and will start music therapy six months after group A.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

music therapy after Cochlear Implantation

Intervention Type OTHER

The music therapy is specially designed for the rehabilitation of CI-patients. It focuses on learning to distinguish different sound sources, especially when they occur at the same time. Training involves familiarization with different aspects of music such as rhythm, melody, and pitch while at the same time also getting to know the sound of different musical instruments, including singing. The training is also aimed at learning to concentrate on spoken instructions while the music is going on. This latter aim is fundamental to the goal of this study and plays a central role in the therapy.

Group C

Group C won't receive any music therapy and serves as a control group.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

no music therapy after Cochlear Implantation

Intervention Type OTHER

Group C consists of persons who do not receive any music therapy after Cochlear Implantation.

Interventions

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music therapy after Cochlear Implantation

The music therapy is specially designed for the rehabilitation of CI-patients. It focuses on learning to distinguish different sound sources, especially when they occur at the same time. Training involves familiarization with different aspects of music such as rhythm, melody, and pitch while at the same time also getting to know the sound of different musical instruments, including singing. The training is also aimed at learning to concentrate on spoken instructions while the music is going on. This latter aim is fundamental to the goal of this study and plays a central role in the therapy.

Intervention Type OTHER

no music therapy after Cochlear Implantation

Group C consists of persons who do not receive any music therapy after Cochlear Implantation.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. Patient aged between 18-85 years
2. Patients who undergo a new CI Implantation
3. Patients who speak German as their main language

Exclusion Criteria

1\. Patients with congenital deafness
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

85 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Armina Kreuzer

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Armina Kreuzer

Dr. tech.

Responsibility Role SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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Lucerne Cantonal Hospital

Lucerne, Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Switzerland

Central Contacts

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Armina Kreuzer, Dr. tech.

Role: CONTACT

+412055059

References

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Looi V, Gfeller K, Driscoll V. MUSIC APPRECIATION AND TRAINING FOR COCHLEAR IMPLANT RECIPIENTS: A REVIEW. Semin Hear. 2012 Nov 1;33(4):307-334. doi: 10.1055/s-0032-1329222. Epub 2012 Nov 19.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23459244 (View on PubMed)

Lima JP, Iervolino SMS, Schochat E. Musical and temporal auditory skills in cochlear implant users after music therapy. Codas. 2018 Nov 12;30(6):e20180006. doi: 10.1590/2317-1782/20182018006. English, Portuguese.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 30462748 (View on PubMed)

Hutter E, Grapp M, Argstatter H. [Music therapy in adults with cochlear implants : Effects on music perception and subjective sound quality]. HNO. 2016 Dec;64(12):880-890. doi: 10.1007/s00106-016-0279-7. German.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27837214 (View on PubMed)

Hey M, Bohnke B, Mewes A, Munder P, Mauger SJ, Hocke T. Speech comprehension across multiple CI processor generations: Scene dependent signal processing. Laryngoscope Investig Otolaryngol. 2021 Jun 15;6(4):807-815. doi: 10.1002/lio2.564. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 34401506 (View on PubMed)

Haumann S, Muhler R, Ziese M, von Specht H. [Discrimination of musical pitch with cochlear implants]. HNO. 2007 Aug;55(8):613-9. doi: 10.1007/s00106-006-1485-5. German.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 17136415 (View on PubMed)

Gfeller K, Woodworth G, Robin DA, Witt S, Knutson JF. Perception of rhythmic and sequential pitch patterns by normally hearing adults and adult cochlear implant users. Ear Hear. 1997 Jun;18(3):252-60. doi: 10.1097/00003446-199706000-00008.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 9201460 (View on PubMed)

Dincer D'Alessandro H, Boyle PJ, Portanova G, Mancini P. Music perception and speech intelligibility in noise performance by Italian-speaking cochlear implant users. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2022 Aug;279(8):3821-3829. doi: 10.1007/s00405-021-07103-x. Epub 2021 Oct 1.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 34596714 (View on PubMed)

Amann E, Anderson I. Development and validation of a questionnaire for hearing implant users to self-assess their auditory abilities in everyday communication situations: the Hearing Implant Sound Quality Index (HISQUI19). Acta Otolaryngol. 2014 Sep;134(9):915-23. doi: 10.3109/00016489.2014.909604. Epub 2014 Jun 30.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24975453 (View on PubMed)

Digeser F, Hast A, Hessel H, Hoppe U (2008): Einfluss von Obertönen auf die Frequenzdiskrimination bei Cochlear Implant Trägern

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Wagener KC, Kühnel V, Kollmeier B (1999b) Entwicklung und Evaluation eines Satztests für die deutsche Sprache III: Evaluation des Oldenburger Sprachtests. Z Audiol 38:86-95.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Wagener KC, Kühnel V, Kollmeier B (1999a) Entwicklung und Evaluation eines Satztests für die deutsche Sprache I: Design des Oldenburger Satztests. Z Audiol 38:4-15.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Schuppert M, Munte TF, Wieringa BM, Altenmuller E. Receptive amusia: evidence for cross-hemispheric neural networks underlying music processing strategies. Brain. 2000 Mar;123 Pt 3:546-59. doi: 10.1093/brain/123.3.546.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 10686177 (View on PubMed)

Schauwecker N, Patro A, Holder JT, Bennett ML, Perkins E, Moberly AC. Cochlear Implant Qualification in Noise Versus Quiet: Do Patients Demonstrate Similar Postoperative Benefits? Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2024 May;170(5):1411-1420. doi: 10.1002/ohn.677. Epub 2024 Feb 14.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 38353294 (View on PubMed)

Parbery-Clark A, Strait DL, Anderson S, Hittner E, Kraus N. Musical experience and the aging auditory system: implications for cognitive abilities and hearing speech in noise. PLoS One. 2011 May 11;6(5):e18082. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018082.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 21589653 (View on PubMed)

Patel AD. Why would Musical Training Benefit the Neural Encoding of Speech? The OPERA Hypothesis. Front Psychol. 2011 Jun 29;2:142. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00142. eCollection 2011.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 21747773 (View on PubMed)

Petersen B, Mortensen MV, Gjedde A, Vuust P. Reestablishing speech understanding through musical ear training after cochlear implantation: a study of the potential cortical plasticity in the brain. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Jul;1169:437-40. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04796.x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19673820 (View on PubMed)

Mirza S, Douglas SA, Lindsey P, Hildreth T, Hawthorne M. Appreciation of music in adult patients with cochlear implants: a patient questionnaire. Cochlear Implants Int. 2003 Jun;4(2):85-95. doi: 10.1179/cim.2003.4.2.85.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 18792140 (View on PubMed)

McDermott HJ. Music perception with cochlear implants: a review. Trends Amplif. 2004;8(2):49-82. doi: 10.1177/108471380400800203.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15497033 (View on PubMed)

Related Links

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Other Identifiers

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Musiktherapie_Erwachsene

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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