Effect of instrument timbre on melodic contour identification by cochlear implant users.

Because of interactions between the signal processing and acoustic input, cochlear implant (CI) users' melodic pitch perception may be influenced by instrument timbre. In the present study, CI listeners' melodic contour identification was measured for six instruments (organ, glockenspiel, trumpet, clarinet, violin, and piano). While performance was generally best with the organ and poorest with the piano, individual CI subjects exhibited different patterns of results across instruments. CI subjects with the most music experience were less susceptible to timbre effects, suggesting that music training may help less experienced CI users extract melodic pitch from a variety of sound sources.