Abstract
Introduction: 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. Methods: 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. Results: 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. Conclusions: 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.