WHAT EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS AND MUSIC THERAPISTS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MUSIC EXPERIENCES FOR PRESCHOOLERS WITH CIs
Sound Play for Preschoolers With Cochlear Implants Kate Gfeller, Ph.D. School of Music, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Iowa Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa This article describes music perception and enjoyment of preschool children who use a hearing device called a cochlear implant (CI). Although cochlear implants do not transmit an accurate replica of pitch or timbre, young children using CIs can enjoy many musical experiences if appropriately selected or modified. This article includes descriptions of those aspects of music most and least eectively conveyed by CIs, as well as strategies for facilitating successful participation in preschool music activities.
imagine 7(1), 2016
As music therapists and educators know, preschool music programs not only expose children to the beauty of music, but also promote development of vocabulary, mental constructs, emotional regulation, and motor and social skills (Campbell & Scott-Kassner, 1995). Music can be an engaging and natural medium through which children learn; this includes youngsters with hearing loss (Gfeller, Driscoll, Kennworthy, & Van Voorst, 2011). The children pictured in this preschool music therapy session have severe to profound
hearing loss, and access the world of music through a bionic inner ear called a cochlear implant (CI). Cochlear Implants and Music Cochlear implants (CIs) are hearing devices used by persons with severe to profound hearing losses who receive little if any benefit from conventional hearing aids (Looi, Gfeller, & Driscoll, 2012). A CI does not cure deafness or convey sound as one hears through a normal ear. Unlike hearing aids, which amplify sound, CIs have an externally-worn microphone and sound processor
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