Hearing Impaired Children

The Effect of Vibrotactile Stimuli on the Identification of Pitch Change by Hearing Impaired Children

Alice-Ann Darrow, PhD, RMT-BC, Associate Professor of Music Education and Music Therapy, University of Kansas and H Goll, M.Ed., MME, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany

The researchers conducted a research study to see whether or not vibrotactile stimulation could help children with a hearing-impairment to identify changes in musical pitches. Seventeen children with hearing impairments participated in the research being presented with ten patterns of changing musical pitches both via a VA equipment and aurally via a tape player. Of the seventeen children, ten were better able to identify changes in pitch when the pitches were presented via the vibroacoustic equipment. The researchers concluded that “feeling” the pitches on the VAT equipment enhanced the children’s ability to distinguish between different musical notes. These findings were generally consistent regardless of the direction that the pitches changed. The researchers and teachers involved in carrying out the project reported that they observed positive responses in the children during the time that they were using the Somatron vibroacoustic equipment.

Source: Lifesounds