The pleasurable urge to move to music is maintained in cochlear implant users

Introduction Normally hearing (NH) listeners experience the strongest pleasurable urge to move to music (PLUMM) when listening to rhythmic patterns of medium complexity compared to high and low complexity, reflected by an inverted U-shaped relationship. This relation is strongest when these patterns consist of more rhythmic layers (e.g., snare and bass drum vs. snare only). In cochlear implant (CI) users, the sensation of PLUMM remains unexplored. In this study, we investigated CI users' perception of rhythm, and their PLUMM, compared to NH listeners. Given some of the technical limitations of the implant, we hypothesized that CI users would prefer rhythms consisting of fewer rhythmic layers. Methods An online study (29 CI users and 31 NH listeners) was conducted, asking participants to rate “wanting to move” and “experienced pleasure” while listening to drum patterns that varied both in terms of degree of syncopation (i.e., rhythmic complexity) and the number of rhythmic layers (snare only, SN; snare and hi-hat, SN+HH; snare and bass drum, SN+BD; snare, bass drum and hi-hat, SN+BD+HH). Results Both CI users and NH listeners preferred rhythmic patterns of medium complexity in terms of degree of syncopation. Further, both groups showed preferences toward rhythmic patterns consisting of more rhythmic layers, with the highest ratings and most prominent inverted U-shaped relationships for the versions containing all three layers (SN+BD+HH), and the single-layer versions showing almost no effect of syncopation (SN). There were no significant differences in PLUMM ratings between the two groups except for a significantly bigger difference between SN only and SN+HH in CI users compared to NH listeners, reflected by a flatter curve for SN only in the CI users. Discussion Our findings indicate that CI users can still appreciate and respond to some musical elements, despite the technical limitations in pitch and timbre perception, with the underlying perceptual mechanisms for PLUMM remaining intact.