P4A040: Digital Streaming for Cochlear Implant Users: Navigating Barriers to Improve Music Enjoyment

Background: Music listening and appreciation in the Cochlear Implant (CI) population is a nuanced topic, informed by both cultural perspectives and technological challenges. Although CI technology has evolved immensely over recent years, poor music quality remains one of the most common complaints by patients' post-CI surgery. In more recent technological developments, CI devices today allow users to directly connect their hearing input to digital music streaming services, allowing for the minimization of background noise and enhancement of audio. This technology may be a promising step towards improving music engagement in the CI population – however, no studies currently assess the CI user’s perspective on digital streaming. Furthermore, no study addresses the differences between digital music appreciation in patients with pre-lingual hearing loss and post-lingual hearing loss, along with differences in music perception depending on the age when cochlear implant surgery was performed. Understanding the response from CI users is crucial to obtaining culturally informed information on how effective current CI and music technology is and how it can be improved.

Methods: We developed a mixed-methods study to survey how digital streaming impacts music consumption and appreciation of CI users. The survey was created on the Qualtrics platform and was posted on online CI and deaf and hard of hearing community platforms. Qualtrics bot detection and password protection options were implemented to ensure validity of responses obtained from online platforms. A total of 41 responses were collected, and 5 responses were removed for incomplete responses for a total of n=36.

Results: Out of the 36 responses from CI users, the age range at which hearing loss began is from 0-68 years old. Reasons for hearing lost included infection, trauma, genetics, autoimmune, and medications. Survey results show that 67% of CI user respondents strongly agree or agree with the statement of music listening being an enjoyable activity and 77% find music easy to access on digital streaming platforms. 67% also agree that their hearing condition limits their ability to enjoy music through streaming platforms. 82% agreed that it is easy to stream music directly to the cochlear implant and 55% agreed that digital music sounded better than live music. Around 20-25% agree with the statements of feeling left-out of the digital music streaming culture.

Conclusion: These results show that music listening remains a popular and enjoyable activity among CI users, and digital music streaming is a promising technological tool that can be used to enhance the music listening experience among CI users. However, despite this technology, CI users continue to report decreased music appreciation post surgery due to their hearing condition, suggesting that changes can be made to digital music streaming platforms to improve this existing technology and eliminate barriers to music engagement.