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Test Instrument
Perception for complex melodic (tonal) and rhythm patterns
was tested using the Tonal and Rhythm subtests of the Primary
Measures of Music Audition (PMMA) (Gordon, 1979). This
standardized test of musical perception assesses ability to hear
differences in short tonal and rhythm patterns. Although this
test is normed on young children (grades K-3), the test author
maintains that musical aptitude, as assessed by the PMMA,
stabilizes around age nine (Gordon, 1979).
Each subtest (Tonal and Rhythm) of the PMMA consists of
40 electronically produced pairs of melodic or rhythmic pat
terns respectively. A 1.5 second inter-stimulus interval separates
each member of the pair, and each of the 40 item pairs is
separated by a 5-second silence. The test uses a “same” or
“different” paradigm. Each melodic pattern in the Tonal subtest
contains from two to five notes ranging in pitch from C4 to F5.
The item pairs have equivalent rhythmic patterns; however,
those item pairs that are “different” vary on one or more notes
in frequency. The Rhythm subtest presents all stimuli at one
frequency (C5). Differences are in duration, proportion of the
rhythmic values, or accent. The PMMA has been used in testing
with a variety of populations, including hearing impaired chil
dren (Darrow, 1987), adults with traumatic brain injuries and
a control group of adults ages 14-61 (Hunter, 1989), and older
adults (age 65 or older) (Gibbons, 1983).
Table 1
Subject Characteristics for Nucleus and Ineraid Subgroups
Procedure
Each subject was tested individually in a small clinic room
of a speech and audiology clinic. Subjects were asked questions
about their musical background. Then the Rhythm and Tonal
subtests of the PMMA were played over a portable cassette tape
recorder (SONY Stereo Cassette-Corder CS-W30) in sound field
at most comfortable level of loudness (range of 65-84 dBA SPL).
Those subjects who used a hearing aid as well as a cochlear
implant were asked to use only their implant during testing. A
short break was taken between the two subtests.
The following analyses were computed for each subtest: mean
score, standard deviation, internal consistency (KR-20), split
halves reliability, and standard error. Item difficulty and item
discrimination indices were calculated for each item. Item dif
ficulty indicates the percentage of subjects who correctly re
spond to the item (Nunnally, 1967). Therefore, the higher the
index, the easier the item. For tests intended to differentiate
among subjects, maximum differentiation can be achieved in
tests of moderate difficulty (i.e., when items are answered cor
rectly by 50 to 80% of the group) (Technical Bulletin 17, 1991).
Item discrimination refers to the degree to which a particular
item discriminates high, middle, and low scoring subjects for
the entire test. Items that discriminate well among subjects have
a correlation of at least .20 (Nunnally, 1967).
The sample size (N = 34) for this item analysis is admittedly
26 Journal,Of Music Therapy
TABLE 2
Performance on PMMA by Device
Table 3
Spearman-rho Correlation Coefficients for subject Variables and Performance
on the PMMA
TABLE 4
PMMA Means and Standard Deviation for Comparative Studies
Tonal Rhythm
M SD SEM M SD SEM
CI Users
HI Children 31.00 4.14 2.29 33.97 2.39 1.76
Norms 23.25 2.82 1.60 25.25 5.65 380
Normal 34.60 3.35 1.30 29 40 3.99 1.60
TABLE 5
Reliability, Difficulty, and Discrimination Measures for the PMMA as Re
ported in Prior Research
Discussion
This study included two primary tasks: (a) an evaluation of
the effectiveness of the PMMA as a test for determining rhyth
mic and melodic perception of CI users, and (b) an examination
of rhythmic and melodic accuracy by 34 adult CI users. The
PMMA was readily administered (with minor adaptations) to
all 34 subjects, despite differences in age, musical background,
and speech perception performance with the implant. However,
the relative ease of the Rhythmic subtest, along with the low
discrimination scores, suggest that the Rhythm subtest in its
original form (Gordon, 1979) is less than ideal for CI users.
Given the time constraints in testing this population, future
research might be based on those items that help to discriminate
high and low-scoring users most effectively.
These preliminary data indicate that the Nucleus and Ineraid
cochlear implants are more effective in facilitating perception
of rhythmic as opposed to melodic information. While one
34 Journal of Music Therapy
Conclusions
At present, empirical data regarding musical perception by
cochlear implant users are scarce. Exploration of this issue will
be facilitated through the availability of usable and technically
adequate measures. Based on our data using the original form
of the PMMA, it appears that rhythmic and melodic elements
of music are differentially accessible to cochlear implant users.
However, actual perceptual accuracy for both tests is similar
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