The perception of speech in noise is challenging for children with cochlear implants (CIs). Singing and musical instrument playing have been associated with improved auditory skills in normal-hearing (NH) children. Therefore, we assessed how children with CIs who sing informally develop in the perception of speech in noise compared to those who do not. We also sought evidence of links of speech perception in noise with MMN and P3a brain responses to musical sounds and studied effects of age and changes over a 14–17 month time period in the speech-in-noise performance of children with CIs. Compared to the NH group, the entire CI group was less tolerant of noise in speech perception, but both groups improved similarly. The CI singing group showed better speech-in-noise perception than the CI non-singing group. The perception of speech in noise in children with CIs was associated with the amplitude of MMN to a change of sound from piano to cymbal, and in the CI singing group only, with earlier P3a for changes in timbre. While our results cannot address causality, they suggest that singing and musical instrument playing may have a potential to enhance the perception of speech in noise in children with CIs.

中文翻译：

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人工耳蜗植入儿童的语音，声音中的语音感知与音乐的皮质处理之间的发展联系

对于使用人工耳蜗（CIs）的儿童，噪声中的语音感知具有挑战性。正常听力（NH）儿童的唱歌和乐器演奏与听觉技能的提高有关。因此，我们评估了那些带有非正式发音的CI的孩子与没有噪音的孩子相比，他们在噪声中的语音感知如何发展。我们还寻求证据证明噪声中语音感知与MMN和P3a大脑对音乐声音的反应之间的联系，并研究了年龄和变化对14岁至17个月CI儿童的噪声表现的影响。与NH组相比，整个CI组对语音感知的噪音容忍度较低，但两组的改善相似。CI唱歌小组比CI非唱歌小组表现出更好的噪声言语感知能力。CI患儿对噪音的言语感知与MMN的幅度与从钢琴到c的声音变化有关，仅在CI唱歌组中，较早的P3a会改变音色。尽管我们的结果无法解决因果关系，但他们认为唱歌和玩乐器可能会增强CI患儿对噪音的言语感知能力。