The Montreal Protocol for Identification of Amusia

Abstract

The Montreal Battery for the Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA; Peretz, Champod, & Hyde Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 999, 58-75, 2003) is an empirically grounded quantitative tool that is widely used to identify individuals with congenital amusia. The use of such a standardized measure ensures that the individuals tested will conform to a specific neuropsychological profile, allowing for comparisons across studies and research groups. Recently, a number of researchers have published credible critiques of the usefulness of the MBEA as a diagnostic tool for amusia. Here we argue that the MBEA and its online counterpart, the AMUSIA tests (Peretz et al. Music Perception, 25, 331-343, 2008), should be considered steps in a screening process for amusia, rather than standalone diagnostic tools. The goal of this article is to present, in detailed and easily replicable format, the full protocol through which congenital amusics should be identified. In providing information that has often gone unreported in published articles, we aim to clarify the strengths and limitations of the MBEA and to make recommendations for its continued use by the research community as part of the Montreal Protocol for Identification of Amusia.

The cerebellum's contribution to beat interval discrimination

“…In the musical domain, previous studies have observed gray matter volume differences between expert, amateur, and non-expert musicians; and expert or non-expert dancers (Gaser and Schlaug, 2003; Nigmatullina et al, 2015; Sluming et al, 2002). Furthermore, VBM studies (Hyde et al, 2006; Mandell et al, 2007) have examined co-variation of gray matter volume with participant performance on a musical assessment test (Peretz et al, 2003) to identify candidate brain regions that are related to the phenotypic expression of congenital amusia or tone-deafness (a pitch perception deficit, Vuvan et al, 2017). …”

Music Perception Testing Reveals Advantages and Continued Challenges for Children Using Bilateral Cochlear Implants

“…The high scores achieved in all three groups suggest that the distinctions in music tested in the cMBEA are fairly easy for children with normal hearing. Similarly, Vuvan et al (2018) found that 175 participants aged 16 to 69 years (mean = 29.7 years) with no reported deficits often achieved maximum scores on this test (Vuvan et al, 2018). A slight decrease in score was only found in the Scale subtest and, again, this was a consistent finding across the three groups, confirming that the modified version of the cMBEA had little effect on abilities to detect musical differences in children with normal hearing.…”

“…Clearly, discrimination scores are reduced relative to normal hearing peers in all 4 of the CI groups. As discussed in previous papers, many children using CIs are effectively amusic (Hopyan et al, 2012;Polonenko et al, 2017;Lima et al, 2018) based on score cutoffs of ∼75% (Vuvan et al, 2018). Yet, unlike individuals with amusia, individuals with hearing loss who use CIs report frequent engagement with music and that they enjoy listening to music (Mirza et al, 2003;Migirov et al, 2009;Looi et al, 2012).…”

“…The Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA) test (Peretz et al, 2003) has proven to be a sensitive, reliable, and valid tool for identifying impaired music perception in individuals with amusia (Vuvan et al, 2018) as well as in adult and child CI users (Cooper et al, 2008;Hopyan et al, 2012;Polonenko et al, 2017;Lima et al, 2018). The child's MBEA (cMBEA) has slight differences from the adult version (MBEA) (Peretz et al, 2013); the melodies are shorter (∼7 notes rather than ∼10), there are fewer test items (20 rather than 30 in each subtest), the metric test is not included, and 10 different instruments are used to make the test more engaging for children.…”

Binaural localization of musical pitch using interaural time differences in congenital amusia

“…We used the Montreal Battery for the Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA; [ 10 ]) to screen participants for amusia. Participants who scored 2 SD below the mean of the general population mean were classified as amusic [ 10 , 37 – 40 ]. Table 2 showed the mean score and standard deviation on the scale, contour, interval, rhythm, metric, and memory subtests of the MBEA for the amusic and control groups as well as the global score.…”