Music therapy in the treatment of patients with hearing deficits – the state of research

Introduction: The history of music therapy for people with hearing loss dates back to the mid-19th century. Since then, there have been at least a dozen attempts to continue the research. Almost all of them concerned patients with sensorineural hearing loss. In recent decades, the research has focused on patients using cochlear implants.Aim: Presentation of the most important attempts at music therapy for people with hearing deficits.Material and methodology: The paper is of a review nature. The analyzed material has been arranged in a comparative manner and comes from specialist medical and musicological publications.Conclusions: The so far attempts at conducting music therapy in hearing impaired patients have yielded positive results, which encouraged other researchers to continue and explore the topic. The development of methodology is slow, and the studies were conducted on modest groups of patients. Analysis of the material indicates the need for research on a wider group of patients, including those with conductive hearing loss.