Perception of Rhythmic and Sequential Pitch Patterns by Normally Hearing Adults and Adult Cochlear Implant Users

Objective: This study compares the musical perception of 17 adult recipients of the Nucleus cochlear implant using two different format extraction processing strategies (F0F1F2 and MPEAK). Design: Over a 12 mo period, participants were alternately switched between two strategies every 3 mo. Performance was evaluated using three measures of rhythmic and sequential pitch perception. Results: Three individuals performed significantly better with the MPEAK strategy on one particular rhythm task, 11 participants performed better with the MPEAK strategy on another rhythm task, and no significant differences were found between the two strategies on a sequential pitch pattern task. Conclusions: Neither strategy seems clearly superior for perception of either sequential pitch or rhythmic patterns.