Musical Training in congenital hearing loss: Effects on cognitive and motor skill in three children with hearing aids

Congenital hearing loss (CHL) has far-reaching consequences on various cognitive levels. Thanks to recent advances in hearing aids (HA) and cochlear implant technology, such consequences have been successfully countered. Moreover, current evidence suggests that hearing-impaired (HI) children who receive hearing devices early in their life and are included in a high-quality training program can develop the necessary skills to access mainstream education. Nevertheless, HI children still appear to lag behind their normal-hearing peers in terms of linguistic, cognitive, and motor skills, while no consensus has been reached among scholars regarding the real advantage offered by habilitative programs available for CHL. Recent studies highlight that musical training can improve various cognitive ability in both typically developing and HI children, although neuro-cognitive and motor improvements in HI toddlers using hearing devices is still an under researched topic. In order to explore the benefits of a well-structured musical training program on various neuropsychological domains, we conducted a pilot study involving three children (age: 35-44 months) with isolated CHL of moderate to severe degree. At the time of the study, all three of them had been wearing well-fitted bilateral HAs and had been taking part in an early speech-language intervention program. The musical training program included two training sessions, for a total of 20 lessons each, administered over a period of six months, with a two-month break in between. Musical activities involved listening, linguistic production, and music-making exercises, specifically designed to combine cognitive, motor, and linguistic skills. Neuropsychological assessment was carried out before and after each session, and six months after the end of the program, to evaluate its effects over time. Assessment included: Leiter-R cognitive scale evaluation, NEPSY-II (manual-motor sequence, memory for designs, and narrative memory), evaluation of indirect qualitative musical skills by parents (questionnaire) and direct music evaluation proposed by educator (qualitative assessment). All three children showed neuropsychological improvements and consolidated acquisition, with highest scores achieved in motor sequence, memory for designs, and visual attention tests. Indirect evaluation of musical skills yielded similarly positive results. Outcomes are discussed in terms of clinical and educational perspectives in the developmental trajectory of HI children.