Emotional Responses to Music Are Diminished in Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users

Emotional response to music, though a central facet of music listening, remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the emotional responses to music among bilateral cochlear implantees.

Bilateral CI users and normal-hearing (NH) controls were recruited from a tertiary academic center and community hearing loss groups. Participants listened (via an online survey) to ten previously validated 15-s musical clips representing multiple genres and wide range of valence (happiness vs. sadness) and arousal (excitement vs. calm) and rated the musical clips on validated nine-point visual analog scales of valence and arousal.

In total, 25 bilateral CI users and 18 NH controls completed the study. Compared to NH controls, CI users demonstrated significantly increased error in valence identification (mean [SD] 1.75 [0.61] vs. 1.16 [0.29], p < 0.001) but equivalent arousal error. There were significant differences for 8 of 20 total ratings between NH and CI groups. Additionally, CI users demonstrated a significantly constricted range of arousal (4.69 [1.39] vs. 6.04 [1.33], p = 0.0025) but a preserved range of valence (4.99 [1.57] vs. 5.62 [1.13], p = 0.13). Implantees reported significantly lower music enjoyment (5.78 [3.57] vs. 8.57 [1.17], p = 0.0016) than NH controls, and enjoyment was significantly associated with both valence and arousal range.

Bilateral CI users' emotional response to music is significantly constricted compared to NH controls. Blunted appreciation of emotional content likely contributes to reduced music enjoyment among cochlear implantees and is a critical target for improvement.