Enjoyment Of Music Research Articles

Musical Enjoyment and Reward: From Hedonic Pleasure to Eudaimonic Listening

This article is a hypothesis and theory paper. It elaborates on the possible relation between music as a stimulus and its possible effects, with a focus on the question of why listeners are experiencing pleasure and reward. Though it is tempting to seek for a causal relationship, this has proven to be elusive given the many intermediary variables that intervene between the actual impingement on the senses and the reactions/responses by the listener. A distinction can be made, however, between three elements: (i) an objective description of the acoustic features of the music and their possible role as elicitors; (ii) a description of the possible modulating factors—both external/exogenous and internal/endogenous ones; and (iii) a continuous and real-time description of the responses by the listener, both in terms of their psychological reactions and their physiological correlates. Music listening, in this broadened view, can be considered as a multivariate phenomenon of biological, psychological, and cultural factors that, together, shape the overall, full-fledged experience. In addition to an overview of the current and extant research on musical enjoyment and reward, we draw attention to some key methodological problems that still complicate a full description of the musical experience. We further elaborate on how listening may entail both adaptive and maladaptive ways of coping with the sounds, with the former allowing a gentle transition from mere hedonic pleasure to eudaimonic enjoyment.

MELUDIA – Online music training for cochlear implant users

Background Music enjoyment is of importance for many cochlear implant (CI) users, and the interest in music training is high. But many CI users report that it is a challenge to find suitable training resources and that they stall because they don’t know how to practice. Meludia is an online music training program that provides structured and guided music training for musically experienced and inexperienced children and adults. Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate the suitability of the Meludia music training software for CI recipients based on two research questions: (1) are the easiest exercises available easy enough for CI users, and (2) are there any gaps when progressing through levels and stars with increasing difficulty? Methods Thirty-eight adult MED-EL CI users completed fourteen exercises involving 5 different musical dimensions of the online music training program. Results Our results show that the easiest exercises available in Meludia are easy enough for CI users to be able to use this training resource independent of age, indication, duration of CI use or musical background. Conclusion With Meludia we assessed and found a suitable and comprehensive training tool that allows CI recipients to work on individual goals regardless of their present abilities.

The Relationship Between Hearing Experiences, Music-Listening Behaviors, and Chord-Discrimination Abilities for Cochlear Implant Users

The main pre-implant factors that relate to speech perception outcomes in adults with cochlear implants (CIs) are well known. However, it is not clear if these same factors are related to music perception and enjoyment. This study explored the relationship between self-reported pre-implant hearing and music experiences, and post-implant chord discrimination and music enjoyment. An online platform was used to deliver the Munich Music Questionnaire (MUMU), run a chord-discrimination task, and obtain demographic information. The chord-discrimination task involved detection of an upward change of one, two or three semitones in the third note, or a downward change of one, two, or three semitones in the middle note of a three-note major chord, using synthesized harmonic tones. Twenty-five CI users participated, aged 29–86 years. Exploratory factor analysis revealed three hearing-related variables (duration of hearing difficulty, age characteristics, and years of hearing with a CI), and three music-related variables (music quality from the CI, extent of music engagement, and music-listening habits). Chord-discrimination scores increased with increasing frequency change of the varying note. It was likely that some CI users used beats between tones as a discrimination cue. Chord discrimination was also better for individuals listening via loudspeakers and headphones than for those listening via Bluetooth streaming, perhaps because of artifacts produced by the latter. Chord-discrimination was better for older participants with longer experience of hearing with an implant. Those with longer duration of hearing difficulty who liked the sound quality of their CIs had higher music enjoyment scores.

Can Haptic Stimulation Enhance Music Perception in Hearing-Impaired Listeners?

Cochlear implants (CIs) have been remarkably successful at restoring hearing in severely-to-profoundly hearing-impaired individuals. However, users often struggle to deconstruct complex auditory scenes with multiple simultaneous sounds, which can result in reduced music enjoyment and impaired speech understanding in background noise. Hearing aid users often have similar issues, though these are typically less acute. Several recent studies have shown that haptic stimulation can enhance CI listening by giving access to sound features that are poorly transmitted through the electrical CI signal. This “electro-haptic stimulation” improves melody recognition and pitch discrimination, as well as speech-in-noise performance and sound localization. The success of this approach suggests it could also enhance auditory perception in hearing-aid users and other hearing-impaired listeners. This review focuses on the use of haptic stimulation to enhance music perception in hearing-impaired listeners. Music is prevalent throughout everyday life, being critical to media such as film and video games, and often being central to events such as weddings and funerals. It represents the biggest challenge for signal processing, as it is typically an extremely complex acoustic signal, containing multiple simultaneous harmonic and inharmonic sounds. Signal-processing approaches developed for enhancing music perception could therefore have significant utility for other key issues faced by hearing-impaired listeners, such as understanding speech in noisy environments. This review first discusses the limits of music perception in hearing-impaired listeners and the limits of the tactile system. It then discusses the evidence around integration of audio and haptic stimulation in the brain. Next, the features, suitability, and success of current haptic devices for enhancing music perception are reviewed, as well as the signal-processing approaches that could be deployed in future haptic devices. Finally, the cutting-edge technologies that could be exploited for enhancing music perception with haptics are discussed. These include the latest micro motor and driver technology, low-power wireless technology, machine learning, big data, and cloud computing. New approaches for enhancing music perception in hearing-impaired listeners could substantially improve quality of life. Furthermore, effective haptic techniques for providing complex sound information could offer a non-invasive, affordable means for enhancing listening more broadly in hearing-impaired individuals.

An evaluation of music perception, appreciation, and overall music enjoyment in prelingual paediatric cochlear implant users utilizing simplified techniques: An Indian study

IntroductionThis study was aimed to evaluate the speech abilities, music habits, ability to perceive and enjoy music in prelingual paediatric cochlear implantees between the age group (18–84 months). Testing paediatric CI recipients for their music habits is challenging. This study offers some unique yet simplified tools to test musical parameters in paediatric CI recipients. Material methodsTwenty-seven paediatric CI recipients who had received at least one year of auditory verbal therapy post-implantation were selected. They were tested for their speech abilities using the CAP (Category of Auditory Performance) and SIR (Speech Intelligibility Ratings) score. Music habits (Musicality Rating Scale/MRS), music perception (Pitch, timbre, melody) and music enjoyment (Subjective Assessment of Music Enjoyment/SAME) were assessed using various tools. All these parameters were compared with age and sex-matched controls who had normal hearing. ResultsSimple pitch discrimination, timbre recognition, and melody identification was observed in 29.60%, 37.03%, and 37.03% of implantees, respectively, compared to 88.88%, 81.48% and 88.88%, in normal-hearing children. The mean scores of CAP, SIR and MRS in cochlear implant users who perceived pitch timbre and melody differed significantly from those who did not. The mean SAME score of the normal-hearing group [4.37 ± 0.74] differs significantly from the paediatric cochlear implant user group [2.59 ± 1.47]. (p < .000). ConclusionThis study offers some novel, simplified tools to assess music habits in paediatric cochlear implantees. These can be utilized in low resource settings and can be helpful for rehabilitationists training these children.

Novel Web-Based Music Re-Engineering Software for Enhancement of Music Enjoyment Among Cochlear Implantees.

Cochlear implant (CI) listeners experience diminished music perception and enjoyment from a variety of patient-related and implant-related factors. We investigate the hypothesis that patient-directed music re-engineering may enhance music enjoyment with CI. Prospective cohort study. Academic cochlear implant center. A multidisciplinary team of neurotologists, audiologists, and a sound/audio engineer collaborated with a web developer to create a music re-engineering application. Experienced adult CI listeners rated original excerpts from five major genres of music on enjoyment using a visual analog scale (VAS). Subjects were then allowed to re-engineer the original by adjusting treble frequencies, bass frequencies, percussion emphasis, and reverberation and again rated on enjoyment. Total of 46 subjects, with a mean age of 57.6 years (SD = 16; range, 18-90) participated in the study. User-mixed audio was rated higher across all measures of enjoyment than original recordings (mean difference +0.92; p < 0.05, CI [0.22, 1.62]), an effect that was seen across all genres except for country music. Subjects preferred louder bass frequencies (mean difference +7.1 dB; p < 0.01, CI [2.15, 24.3]) and more reverberation (mean difference +6.6 ms; p < 0.01, CI [2.85, 10.7]). Re-engineered music increased enjoyment in 57%, and 79% reported an interest in being able to mix music of their own choosing. User-directed music re-engineering increases music enjoyment for CI listeners. The cochlear implantee preferred heightened bass, reverberation, and treble across musical genres. These findings support the implementation of patient-directed music re-engineering to enhance music enjoyment with technology that is readily available today.

Physical exercise increases perceived musical pleasure: Modulatory roles of arousal, affect, or dopamine?

Music’s ability to influence exercise performance is well known, but the converse, how exercise influences music listening, remains largely unknown. Exercise can elevate arousal, positive affect, and neurotransmitters including dopamine, which are involved in musical pleasure. Here we examine how exercise influences music enjoyment, and test for a modulatory role of arousal, affect, and dopamine. Before and after exercise (12 min of vigorous running) and a rest control session, participants ( N = 20) listened to music clips and rated their enjoyment and subjective arousal; we also collected ratings of affect and eye-blink rates, an established predictor of dopamine activity. Ratings of musical enjoyment increased significantly after exercise, but not after the rest control condition. While changes in subjective arousal ratings did not differ between exercise and control conditions, change in subjective arousal correlated with change in music enjoyment. After exercise, the change in music enjoyment had a positive but non-significant correlation with change in eye-blink rates ( r = .36). Positive affect increased more after exercise than after the control session, but the change in positive affect did not correlate with change in music enjoyment. In sum, exercise leads to increased musical enjoyment, and this effect was related to changes in arousal.

Musical enjoyment does not enhance walking speed in healthy adults during music-based auditory cueing.

Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) involves synchronizing footsteps to music or a metronome to improve gait speed and stability in patients with neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease. However, responses to RAS vary across individuals, perhaps because of differences in enjoyment of the music or in musical abilities. Intuitively, musical enjoyment may influence gait responses to RAS, but enjoyment has not been systematically manipulated nor the effects empirically assessed. In addition, differences in beat perception ability are likely to influence gait responses to music, particularly when synchronizing to the beat. Therefore, we asked: how does music enjoyment alter gait, and do gait parameters differ between individuals with good versus poor beat perception ability, specifically when instructed to 'walk freely' versus 'synchronize to the beat'? Young adults and older adults walked on a pressure sensor walkway in silence and to music that they had rated as either high or low in enjoyment, as well as a metronome. All stimuli were presented at 15 % faster than baseline cadence. Participants either walked freely to the music or synchronized to the beat. Music enjoyment had no significant effects on gait in either younger or older adults. Compared to baseline, younger adults walked faster (by taking longer strides) to music than the metronome, whereas older adults walked faster (by taking more steps per minute) to the metronome than music. When instructed to synchronize vs. walk freely, young adults walked faster, but older adults walked slower. Finally, regardless of instruction type, young adults with poor beat perception took shorter and slower strides to the music, whereas older adults with poor beat perception took slower strides to the music. Beat perception ability, instruction type, and age affect gait more than music enjoyment does, and thus should be considered when optimizing RAS outcomes.

Assessment of music experience after cochlear implantation: A review of current tools and their utilization.

ObjectiveTo provide an overview of the current available music assessment tools after cochlear implantation (CI); to report on the utilization of music assessments in the literature; to propose potential future directions in music assessment after CI.MethodsA thorough search was performed in PubMed, Embase, and The Cochrane Library through October 31, 2020. MeSH search terms, keywords, and phrases included “cochlear implant,” “cochlear prosthesis,” “auditory prosthesis,” “music,” “music assessment,” “music questionnaire,” “music perception,” “music enjoyment, and “music experience.” Potentially relevant studies were reviewed for inclusion, with particular focus on assessments developed specifically for the cochlear implant population and intended for widespread use.Results/conclusionsSix hundred and forty-three studies were screened for relevance to assessment of music experience among cochlear implantees. Eighty-one studies ultimately met criteria for inclusion. There are multiple validated tools for assessment of music experience after cochlear implantation, each of which provide slightly differing insights into the patients’ subjective and/or objective post-activation experience. However, no single assessment tool has been adopted into widespread use and thus, much of the literature pertaining to this topic evaluates outcomes non-uniformly, including single-use assessments designed specifically for the study at hand. The lack of a widely accepted universal tool for assessment of music limits our collective understanding the contributory and mitigating factors applicable to current music experience of cochlear implantees, and limits our ability to uniformly evaluate the success of new implant technologies or music training paradigms.

The Sound of Politics in Early Nineteenth-Century Ireland

AbstractIn the early 1800s, Jonah Barrington, an Irish judge, bemoaned that the air chosen as the march for the Irish Volunteer Movement had “no merit whatever, being neither grand, nor martial, nor animating,” contrasting it with the zeal of French revolutionary music. The emotional impact of music might be a matter of taste, but such a statement is suggestive of an aesthetics, where political music, or music used for political purposes, should have specific qualities that could be identified and judged by listeners. This article explores how people in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Ireland identified music as political, using theories of the effects and affects of sound during the period and a corpus of Irish political music as an access point into historical experiences of musical enjoyment. While the impacts of music on the body are challenging for historians to retrieve, scholarship from the history of emotions highlights the important role of normative frameworks of emotion in accessing embodied experience. Working from this perspective, this article argues that we can begin to access the sound of politics for audiences of this period, contributing to our understanding of the role of music in political life.

CI in single-sided deafness

The cochlear implant (CI) as a treatment option for single-sided deafness (SSD) started with a clinical study looking in to the influence of cochlear implantation with a MED-EL device on incapacitating unilateral tinnitus in SSD. The study began in 2003 and was conducted by P. Van de Heyning and his team in Antwerp, Belgium. The first CI in SSD without tinnitus in Germany was implanted by J. Mueller and R. Jacob in Koblenz in 2005. Translational research activities took place since then to evaluate the CI as a treatment option for SSD not only in adults but also in children. They assessed the hearing performance of SSD patients implanted with CI, importance of long electrode arrays in SSD patients, degree of acceptance of CI by SSD children, importance of early CI implantation in SSD children in developing language skills, music enjoyment by hearing with two ears and evidence on spiral ganglion cell body distribution. In 2013, MED-EL was the first CI manufacturer to receive the CE mark for the indication of SSD and asymmetric hearing loss (AHL) in adults and children. In 2019, MED-EL was the first CI manufacturer to get its CI device approved for patients over the age of five with SSD and AHL, by the FDA in the USA. This article covers the milestones of translational research from the first concept to the widespread clinical use of CI in SSD.

Music and auditory perceptual learning – cochlear implanted children trained six months inside a musical bells and melody chimes orchestra

The purpose of the study. To directly improve the capacity to discriminate musical sound’s parameters by the cochlear implanted children who participated in the designed trai­ning activity. Also, speech recognition in difficult sound envi­ron­ments is indirectly improved. Materials and method. The experimental study was organized as an or­ches­tra of musical bells and melody chimes. The group was represented by 20 cochlear implanted children aged 4 to 17 years old. They participated 6 months for orchestra trai­ning. The capacity of all the subjects to discriminate the rhythm, tonality and timbre of the musical sounds was tes­ted before starting the rehabilitative activity and after six months of musical training. Results. After six months of musical training, all the children showed significant im­proved capabilities of discrimination of sound parameters com­pa­ring with the initial testing results. Conclusions. Musical trai­ning for cochlear implanted children can contribute to an increased music enjoyment and quality of life for this ca­te­go­ry of patients, by providing better discriminatory skills re­gar­ding musical parameters.

Alice Mado Proverbio, Neuroscienze cognitive della musica. Il cervello musicale tra arte e scienza , Bologna, Zanichelli, 2019

Neuroscienze cognitive della musica by Alice Mado Proverbio offers an updated selection of studies on the delicate interweaving between musical practice and brain plasticity. The book provides evidence on how the learning and enjoyment of music can be verified by means of neuroimaging techniques, showing how it determines significant variations in sensory and motor cortical areas as well as in limbic centers, the guardians of emotions. The many topics addressed, from perfect pitch to rehabilitation in Parkinson's and mirror neurons, turn out to be useful in an educational perspective, building a valid framework of reference for any further independent investigation. As a reader and commentator on this text, I hope that readers who, like me, are fascinated with the musical synaptic forest, will be able to follow the story of science without getting lost in dead ends, and fully discover just to what degree we are made of music.

Music Listening Habits and Music Perception Abilities of Prelingually Deafened Adolescent Cochlear Implant Recipients

Music is a very important art form that can evoke strong emotions and involvement with it can have a considerable impact on cochlear implant (CI) recipients' quality of life. It is well known that music perception is limited in CI with fully electric hearing and CI recipients have significantly poorer music-appraisal ability when compared with normal hearing subjects. Considering the importance of music on the life of an adolescent and negative impact of hearing loss on mental health, understanding and improving music listening habits and perception abilities can have a positive impact on the mental health of CI user adolescents. This study aims to evaluate music listening habits and music perception abilities of prelingually deafened adolescent CI users to reveal the relationship between self-reported assessment and psychophysical measurement. The psychophysical measures of music perception and self-reported music listening habits of adolescent CI users were obtained. Twenty-nine prelingually deafened adolescent CI users were evaluated in this study. The Turkish Clinical Assessment of Music Perception (T-CAMP) test was used to evaluate music perception abilities. These abilities were evaluated with a three-item questionnaire assessing enjoyment of music, listening habits, and comprehension of lyrics. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relationship between the T-CAMP subtests and questionnaire items. Statistically significant correlations were observed between the melody-recognition subtest of T-CAMP and all three questionnaire items. The correlation between the enjoyment and rate items on the questionnaire was also statistically significant. The present study shows that adolescent CI users also enjoy and listen to music in ways similar to postlingually deafened adult CI users. It also demonstrates that melody-recognition abilities have a significant relationship with music enjoyment and listening habits in prelingually deafened adolescent CI users.

Assessing the Quality of Low-Frequency Acoustic Hearing: Implications for Combined Electroacoustic Stimulation With Cochlear Implants.

There are many potential advantages to combined electric and acoustic stimulation (EAS) with a cochlear implant (CI), including benefits for hearing in noise, localization, frequency selectivity, and music enjoyment. However, performance on these outcome measures is variable, and the residual acoustic hearing may not be beneficial for all patients. As such, we propose a measure of spectral resolution that might be more predictive of the usefulness of the residual hearing than the audiogram alone. In the following experiments, we measured performance on spectral resolution and speech perception tasks in individuals with normal hearing (NH) using low-pass filters to simulate steeply sloping audiograms of typical EAS candidates and compared it with performance on these tasks for individuals with sensorineural hearing loss with similar audiometric configurations. Because listeners with NH had similar levels of audibility and bandwidth to listeners with hearing loss, differences between the groups could be attributed to distortions due to hearing loss. Listeners with NH (n = 12) and those with hearing loss (n = 23) with steeply sloping audiograms participated in this study. The group with hearing loss consisted of 7 EAS users, 14 hearing aid users, and 3 who did not use amplification in the test ear. Spectral resolution was measured with the spectral-temporal modulated ripple test (SMRT), and speech perception was measured with AzBio sentences in quiet and noise. Listeners with NH listened to stimuli through low-pass filters and at two levels (40 and 60 dBA) to simulate low and high audibility. Listeners with hearing loss listened to SMRT stimuli unaided at their most comfortable listening level and speech stimuli at 60 dBA. Results suggest that performance with SMRT is significantly worse for listeners with hearing loss than for listeners with NH and is not related to audibility. Performance on the speech perception task declined with decreasing frequency information for both listeners with NH and hearing loss. Significant correlations were observed between speech perception, SMRT scores, and mid-frequency audiometric thresholds for listeners with hearing loss. NH simulations describe a "best case scenario" for hearing loss where audibility is the only deficit. For listeners with hearing loss, the likely broadening of auditory filters, loss of cochlear nonlinearities, and possible cochlear dead regions may have contributed to distorted spectral resolution and thus deviations from the NH simulations. Measures of spectral resolution may capture an aspect of hearing loss not evident from the audiogram and be a useful tool for assessing the contributions of residual hearing post-cochlear implantation.

The perception of the stereo effect in bilateral and bimodal cochlear implant users and its contribution to music enjoyment.

ObjectivesIn this clinical study, stereo perception of music samples and its contribution to music enjoyment in CI users is investigated. It is studied in free field as well as direct audio presentation.Methods20 bilateral and 9 bimodal CI users performed stereo detection tests and music enjoyment ratings. Music was presented either in mono or in stereo in free field or with direct audio presentation. Stereo detection was assessed with a 3-AFC paradigm. Music enjoyment was studied with scale ratings.ResultsFor bilateral CI users, stereo detection increased from 52% correct in free field to 86% with direct audio presentation. Increased music enjoyment with improved stereo detection was obtained. Bimodal CI users could not identify stereo sounds. Music enjoyment did not increase for stereo presentations in bimodal subjects.DiscussionFor bilateral CI users, improved stereo detection might increase music enjoyment with direct audio presentation, which is likely due to bypassing the room acoustics. In bimodal CI users, no clear improvement was found, which is likely attributed due to the different hearing losses and therefore individually different interaural frequency overlaps between the hearing aid and the cochlear implant.ConclusionDirect audio presentation is an efficient method to improve music enjoyment in bilateral CI users.

Enhanced Pitch Discrimination for Cochlear Implant Users with a New Haptic Neuroprosthetic

The cochlear implant (CI) is the most widely used neuroprosthesis, recovering hearing for more than half a million severely-to-profoundly hearing-impaired people. However, CIs still have significant limitations, with users having severely impaired pitch perception. Pitch is critical to speech understanding (particularly in noise), to separating different sounds in complex acoustic environments, and to music enjoyment. In recent decades, researchers have attempted to overcome shortcomings in CIs by improving implant technology and surgical techniques, but with limited success. In the current study, we take a new approach of providing missing pitch information through haptic stimulation on the forearm, using our new mosaicOne_B device. The mosaicOne_B extracts pitch information in real-time and presents it via 12 motors that are arranged in ascending pitch along the forearm, with each motor representing a different pitch. In normal-hearing subjects listening to CI simulated audio, we showed that participants were able to discriminate pitch differences at a similar performance level to that achieved by normal-hearing listeners. Furthermore, the device was shown to be highly robust to background noise. This enhanced pitch discrimination has the potential to significantly improve music perception, speech recognition, and speech prosody perception in CI users.

Exploring the impact of background music on customers’ perceptions of ethnic restaurants: The moderating role of dining companions

Given the growing interest among restaurateurs in using atmospherics to enhance customers' dining experiences, this study sought to examine the impact of background music on customers’ perceptions of ethnic restaurants by applying the cue utilization and consumer socialization theories. A total of 346 valid responses were collected through an online survey sampling website. PLS-SEM was employed to validate the proposed model. Multigroup analysis was conducted to compare customers with different companions, either family or friends. The results indicated that the congruency between ethnic music and restaurant theme showed a more significant effect on perceived authenticity than the enjoyment of music itself. Perceived authenticity had a significant impact on both satisfaction and behavioral intention. The effect of music enjoyment on perceived authenticity was significantly higher for customers who dine out with families, while the effect of music congruency on perceived authenticity was significantly higher for customers who dine out with friends.

The CI MuMuFe - A New MMN Paradigm for Measuring Music Discrimination in Electric Hearing.

Cochlear implants (CIs) allow good perception of speech while music listening is unsatisfactory, leading to reduced music enjoyment. Hence, a number of ongoing efforts aim to improve music perception with a CI. Regardless of the nature of these efforts, effect measurements must be valid and reliable. While auditory skills are typically examined by behavioral methods, recording of the mismatch negativity (MMN) response, using electroencephalography (EEG), has recently been applied successfully as a supplementary objective measure. Eleven adult CI users and 14 normally hearing (NH) controls took part in the present study. To measure their detailed discrimination of fundamental features of music we applied a new multifeature MMN-paradigm which presented four music deviants at four levels of magnitude, incorporating a novel “no-standard” approach to be tested with CI users for the first time. A supplementary test measured behavioral discrimination of the same deviants and levels. The MMN-paradigm elicited significant MMN responses to all levels of deviants in both groups. Furthermore, the CI-users’ MMN amplitudes and latencies were not significantly different from those of NH controls. Both groups showed MMN strength that was in overall alignment with the deviation magnitude. In CI users, however, discrimination of pitch levels remained undifferentiated. On average, CI users’ behavioral performance was significantly below that of the NH group, mainly due to poor pitch discrimination. Although no significant effects were found, CI users’ behavioral results tended to be in accordance with deviation magnitude, most prominently manifested in discrimination of the rhythm deviant. In summary, the study indicates that CI users may be able to discriminate subtle changes in basic musical features both in terms of automatic neural responses and of attended behavioral detection. Despite high complexity, the new CI MuMuFe paradigm and the “no-standard” approach provided reliable results, suggesting that it may serve as a relevant tool in future CI research. For clinical use, future studies should investigate the possibility of applying the paradigm with the purpose of assessing discrimination skills not only at the group level but also at the individual level.

Music Is More Enjoyable With Two Ears, Even If One of Them Receives a Degraded Signal Provided By a Cochlear Implant.

Cochlear implants (CIs) restore speech perception in quiet but they also eliminate or distort many acoustic cues that are important for music enjoyment. Unfortunately, quantifying music enjoyment by CI users has been difficult because comparisons must rely on their recollection of music before they lost their hearing. Here, we aimed to assess music enjoyment in CI users using a readily interpretable reference based on acoustic hearing. The comparison was done by testing "single-sided deafness" (SSD) patients who have normal hearing (NH) in one ear and a CI in the other ear. The study also aimed to assess binaural musical enjoyment, with the reference being the experience of hearing with a single NH ear. Three experiments assessed the effect of adding different kinds of input to the second ear: electrical, vocoded, or unmodified. In experiment 1, music enjoyment in SSD-CI users was investigated using a modified version of the MUSHRA (MUltiple Stimuli with Hidden Reference and Anchor) method. Listeners rated their enjoyment of song segments on a scale of 0 to 200, where 100 represented the enjoyment obtained from a song segment presented to the NH ear, 0 represented a highly degraded version of the same song segment presented to the same ear, and 200 represented enjoyment subjectively rated as twice as good as the 100 reference. Stimuli consisted of acoustic only, electric only, acoustic and electric, as well as other conditions with low pass filtered acoustic stimuli. Acoustic stimulation was provided by headphone to the NH ear and electric stimulation was provided by direct audio input to the subject's speech processor. In experiment 2, the task was repeated using NH listeners who received vocoded stimuli instead of electric stimuli. Experiment 3 tested the effect of adding the same unmodified song segment to the second ear, also in NH listeners. Music presented through the CI only was very unpleasant, with an average rating of 20. Surprisingly, the combination of the unpleasant CI signal in one ear with acoustic stimulation in the other ear was rated more enjoyable (mean = 123) than acoustic processing alone. Presentation of the same monaural musical signal to both ears in NH listeners resulted with even greater enhancement of the experience compared with presentation to a single ear (mean = 159). Repeating the experiment using a vocoder to one ear of NH listeners resulted in interference rather than enhancement. Music enjoyment from electric stimulation is extremely poor relative to a readily interpretable NH baseline for CI-SSD listeners. However, the combination of this unenjoyable signal presented through a CI and an unmodified acoustic signal presented to a NH (or near-NH) contralateral ear results in enhanced music enjoyment with respect to the acoustic signal alone. Remarkably, this two-ear enhancement experienced by CI-SSD listeners represents a substantial fraction of the two-ear enhancement seen in NH listeners. This unexpected benefit of electroacoustic auditory stimulation will have to be considered in theoretical accounts of music enjoyment and may facilitate the quest to enhance music enjoyment in CI users.