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CASE REPORT article

Front. Rehabil. Sci.
Sec. Disability, Rehabilitation, and Inclusion
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fresc.2024.1399424
This article is part of the Research Topic Vol II: Person-Centred Rehabilitation – Theory, Practice and Research View all 4 articles

Person-centered aural rehabilitation program improved mood, cognition, and auditory processing in a professional musician who uses a hearing aid and cochlear implant: Case Report

Provisionally accepted
Christine Brennan Christine Brennan *McKenna Spence-Olson McKenna Spence-Olson Kayla Cormier Kayla Cormier Sherri Tennant Sherri Tennant Anu Sharma Anu Sharma
  • University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction - Aural rehabilitation focused on music for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs) and/or hearing aids (HAs) typically emphasizes perceptual skills rather than enjoyment of music. Yet, those with CIs and/or HAs often struggle to enjoy music, complaining that it sounds distorted with the implant or HAs. Typically, aural rehabilitation programs require a significant time commitment, but this may not be feasible or preferable for many patients. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of two individualized intensive 3-week home practice programs focused on enjoyment of music, a personal goal for this subject. Methods - The subject was a professional musician who used a CI and HA. Cognitive measures of global cognitive function, executive function, processing speed, auditory working memory, visual-spatial abilities, verbal fluency, and auditory-verbal memory, as well as auditory electrophysiology (EEG) measures were conducted pre-post experiment 2. Two experiments were undertaken to evaluate responses to two practice programs that incorporated different variations in listening dosage and intervention activities. Results - Experiment 1 resulted in minimal measurable improvements related to music likability ratings, with the highest dosage condition showing a small increase in average likability rating from baseline to week 3. The results of experiment 2 revealed an improvement in likability ratings only when dosage steadily increased each week. The subject also reported improved mood and decreased frustration during weeks two and three of experiment 2. Finally, we found improvement pre-post experiment 2 on several cognitive and EEG measures. Discussion - The results of these experiments are encouraging and support the use of an individualized, person-centered, and semi-structured home practice program to increase music enjoyment and improve quality of life and auditory processing for individuals with hearing loss. Future studies should aim to increase sample size and explore pairing person-centered home practice programs with concurrent clinician-lead aural rehabilitation.

    Keywords: person-centered, Aural rehabilitation, Music, Music enjoyment, Electrophysiology, case study, Hearing Loss, home practice program

    Received: 11 Mar 2024; Accepted: 24 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Brennan, Spence-Olson, Cormier, Tennant and Sharma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Christine Brennan, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.