Reestablishing speech understanding through musical ear training after cochlear implantation: a study of the potential cortical plasticity in the brain.

Cochlear implants (CIs) provide impressive speech perception for persons with severe hearing loss, but many CI recipients fail in perceiving speech prosody and music. Successful rehabilitation depends on cortical plasticity in the brain and postoperative measures. The present study evaluates the behavioral and neurologic effects of musical ear training on CI users' speech and music perception. The goal is to find and work out musical methods to improve CI users' auditory capabilities and, in a longer perspective, provide an efficient strategy for improving speech understanding for both adults and children with CIs.