[Emotional Response to Music by Postlingually-deafened Adult Cochlear Implant Users]

Objective: To assess the emotional response to music by postlingually-deafened adult cochlear implant users.

Method: Munich music questionnaire (MUMU) was used to match the music experience and the motivation of use of music between 12 normal-hearing and 12 cochlear implant subjects. Emotion rating test in Musical Sounds in Cochlear Implants (MuSIC) test battery was used to assess the emotion perception ability for both normal-hearing and cochlear implant subjects. A total of 15 pieces of music phases were used. Responses were given by selecting the rating scales from 1 to 10. "1" represents "very sad" feeling, and "10" represents "very happy feeling.

Result: In comparison with normal-hearing subjects, 12 cochlear implant subjects made less active use of music for emotional purpose. The emotion ratings for cochlear implant subjects were similar to normal-hearing subjects, but with large variability.

Conclusion: Post-lingually deafened cochlear implant subjects on average performed similarly in emotion rating tasks relative to normal-hearing subjects, but their active use of music for emotional purpose was obviously less than normal-hearing subjects.