During human evolution, the auditory system was important for those who would gather or hunt for food in order to be aware of their surroundings, especially with the looming threat of predators (Posner, 1980). It was imperative that the hearing of these hunters and gatherers were perfectly balanced. With under-sensitive hearing they would not be aware of their surroundings, and over-sensitive hearing would create an improper response to auditory stimuli (Näätänen, 1992), such as a branch falling and the hunter thinking that they were being hunted by a predator. In addition to hearing being a warning system, the auditory system is important for verbal and gestural communication. While some sounds and gestures made by humans evolved into languages, others suggest that variations of these sounds created music and dance (Mithen et al., 2006). As researched by Patel (2010), the more one delves and explores language and music, the more we can exhibit the greater capabilities of the auditory system.
Music has been seen and proven to be a beneficial tool for brain development. Some benefits include an increase in auditory skills and neural structures (Hyde et al. 2009), sound perception, sound discrimination, attention allocation (Dittinger et al. 2017), verbal intelligence, phonological awareness (Tierney et al. 2015), and faster neuronal timing (White-Schwoch et al., 2013), to name a few. But what happens when a child develops a hearing impairment? Are they stripped of these benefits due to their reduced ability to hear the music that they are being treated with?
According to The Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), hearing impairments can be one of many causes of language disorders, speech disorders, stuttering, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and Specific Learning Disorder, to name a few. Without speech therapy, music therapy, or the use of a cochlear implant, a child with a hearing impairment may not be able to acquire all the benefits otherwise attained by those with therapy and/or assistive devices. According to a collection of research compiled by Dr. Ritva Torppa and Dr. Minna Huotilainen (2019) of Helsinki University, 80% of studies in their article published in Hearing Research concluded that musical skills and perception, linked to speech patterns and sentence emphasis, have been further developed with musical interventions in children with hearing impairments. Other benefits of musical interventions include an increase in speech perception, language acquisition and skills, perception of sounds, auditory attention, and auditory working memory, which are important for learning and educational success.
In addition to the compiled research, Torppa and Huotilainen (2019) created the following list of recommendations for those caring for individuals treating those with hearing impairments to make sure that they receive as many benefits from music as they can:
“1. Start using music systematically at an early age, before implantation or the application of hearing aids. Continue musical activities for more than one year, to improve speech perception.
2. Use bodily movements in the rhythm of the music. Use orientations.
3. Use singing as your main instrument, especially with a young child.
4. Engage children in musical activities in small groups; use several musical instruments and pictures/toys presenting lyrics.
5. Use plenty of repetition.
6. Use plenty of turn-taking.
7. Give advice to families on how to use music with their child.
8. Use computer games and apps to help the child perceive and produce sounds.
9. Give advice to school music teachers.
10. Support musical hobbies of teenagers with hearing impairments.”
-Jackson Arnold, Music Therapy Intern
Works Cited
Dittinger E, Chobert J, Ziegler JC and Besson M (2017) Fast Brain Plasticity during Word Learning in Musically-Trained Children. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 11:233. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00233
Hyde, K.L., Lerch, J., Norton, A., Forgeard, M., Winner, E., Evans, A.C., Schlaug, G., 2009. Musical training shapes structural brain development. J. Neurosci. 29, 3019-3025. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5118-08.2009.
Mithen, S., Morley, I., Wray, A., Tallerman, M., Gamble, C., 2006. The Singing Neanderthals: the Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body, by Steven Mithen. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 2005.
Näätänen, R. (2018). Attention and brain function. (Psychology library edition. Neuropsychology; Vol. 8). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429487354.
Patel, A.D., 2010. Music, Language, and the Brain. Oxford university press.
Posner, M.I., 1980. Orienting of attention. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 32 (1), 3-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00335558008248231.
Tierney, A., Krizman, J., Kraus, N., 2015. Music training alters the course of adolescent auditory development. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 112, 10062-10067. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1505114112.
Torppa, R., & Huotilainen, M. (2019). Why and how music can be used to rehabilitate and develop speech and language skills in hearing-impaired children. Hearing Research, 308, 108–122. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2019.06.003
White-Schwoch, T., Carr, K.W., Anderson, S., Strait, D.L., Kraus, N., 2013. Older adults benefit from music training early in life: biological evidence for long-term training-driven plasticity. Journal of Neuroscience. 33 (45), 17667-17674. https://doi.org/ 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2560-13.2013.