1. Sarah Conry
SLPA 150
Beth Dinneen
Journal Article Review
12/08/2014
The article I chose to review was about how children with normal hearing differ in song
identification skills compared to children with sensorineural hearing loss. Participants consisted
of children in four different populations; children who had unilateral cochlear implants, children
who had bilateral cochlear implants, children who were bimodal users (cochlear implant on one
ear and a hearing aid on the other) and children with normal hearing who did not have cochlear
implants. The study was conducted by means of having children within these different groups
listen to the same song in five different versions, these were: "(a) full (lyrics sung with piano
accompaniment); (b) a capella (lyrics sung without instrumental accompaniment); (c) melodic
(matching main melodic contour); (d) tonal (only pitch information) and (e) rhythmic (only
song's rhythm)" (Bartov & Most, 2014, p. 1931). The hypothesis at the beginning of the research
was that the children with normal hearing would surpass all of the other groups of children who
had cochlear implants in identification ability and that each group of cochlear implant users
would perform more or less equally in the song identification task.
In regards to the identification ability in the hearing children in comparison to the
children with cochlear implants, there was heavily backed evidence that individuals with normal
hearing can better and more easily identify songs. The hypothesis regarding the performance of
the children in the different cochlear implant categories was found to be mostly correct; there
was no substantial evidence that showed performance variation among the groups in the

2. categories of full, a capella, melodic, and rhythmic. However, one exception was that the
bimodal users were better able to identify songs in the tonal version than the other groups of
cochlear implant users. The researchers behind the study insinuated that the children with a
cochlear implant and hearing aid together had better ability to hear tones in music because,
"...binaural hearing provides better speech perception in noise, compared with monaural hearing
(Ching et al., 2007 as cited in Bartov & Most, 2014, p. 1937). Therefore, the researchers can
assume that there may be advantages to biaural hearing for the purpose of perceiving music.
The study fit well into the information that we have learned in class because it was a sort
of an in depth extension to what we talked about regarding senorineural hearing loss. In class we
talked about the many ways in which a sensorineural hearing loss can occur and how it is
generally a more severe type of hearing loss that cannot be surgically treated. Sensorineural
hearing loss occurs when the inner ear is damaged from factors such as illness, toxic drugs,
hereditary reasons, aging, head injuries, exposure to loud noise and various other causes.
Because this hearing loss is severe and cannot be treated it is usually beneficial to get a cochlear
implant in order to gain some form of hearing. This hearing ability gained by means of a
cochlear implant is very different from natural hearing but is still quite effective. In class, when
talking about cochlear implants, we listened to sound clips that simulated what a person with
cochlear implants hears when they hear music. This study went very well with that activity
because it showed just how different the hearing ability is for an individual with a cochlear
implant . The whole class listened to the song "Happy Birthday" through the sound simulation
of a cochlear implant which made the song completely unrecognizable to each and every one of
us in the class.

3. I found this article to be very insightful because it explained in great detail exactly how a
cochlear implant works for an individual and the ways in which it does and does not enable them
to hear sounds. That explains why the individuals who had normal hearing were better able to
recognize songs in each of the five categories but the children who had cochlear implants had
lower ability at the task.
In the future I would be interested in learning more about what the most common causes
for sensorineural hearing loss are in more detail. For example, what specific illnesses and
specific toxic drugs cause it and how quickly and lengthy exposure to loud noise must be to have
a permanent effect on hearing ability. I think knowing more of the detailed facts would further
my understanding of sensorineural hearing loss and cochlear implants substantially. This study
was considerably fascinating, I hope to learn more about these topics in the future.

4. References
Bartov, T., & Most, T. (2014). Song recognition by young children with cochlear implants:
Comparison between unilateral, bilateral, and bimodal users. Journal Of Speech,
Language & Hearing Research, 57(5), 1929-1941. doi:10.1044/2014_JSLHR-H-
13-0190