Reduction of the Harmonic Series Influences Musical Enjoyment With Cochlear Implants

OBJECTIVE:Cochlear implantation is associated with poor music perception and enjoyment. Reducing music complexity has been shown to enhance music enjoyment in cochlear implant (CI) recipients. In this study, we assess the impact of harmonic series reduction on music enjoyment. STUDY DESIGN:Prospective analysis of music enjoyment in normal-hearing (NH) individuals and CI recipients. SETTING:Single tertiary academic medical center. PATIENTS:NH adults (N = 20) and CI users (N = 8) rated the Happy Birthday song on three validated enjoyment modalities—musicality, pleasantness, and naturalness. INTERVENTION:Subjective rating of music excerpts. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Participants listened to seven different instruments play the melody, each with five levels of harmonic reduction (Full, F3+F2+F1+F0, F2+F1+F0, F1+F0, F0). NH participants listened to the segments both with and without CI simulation. Linear mixed effect models (LME) and likelihood ratio tests were used to assess the impact of harmonic reduction on enjoyment. RESULTS:NH listeners without simulation rated segments with the first four harmonics (F3+F2+F1+F0) most pleasant and natural (p