Cochlear implant recipients have the potential to benefit more from their speech perception development and enhance their quality of life when feeling the beat and enjoying music, according to new research from Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC), which was published on January 6, 2015, on Hearing Research’s official website. The researchers believe that exposure to some rhythmic music, such as drumming, can regulate the mood of cochlear implant users, making it easier for them to integrate into mainstream society, and may also help improve their speech comprehension. Dr. Jessica Phillips said that cochlear implants are designed for speech perception, not music perception, however, if cochlear implant recipients listen to rhythmic music, it could improve both their speech perception and music appreciation. Georgetown University reported that previous studies have shown that cochlear implants stimulate auditory nerve fibers directly around the outer ear and lack processing of musical pitch and tone quality, so implant recipients may have a harder time appreciating musical melodies or receiving musical training. In the Georgetown study, the researchers wanted to objectively study whether implant recipients were able to move their bodies in time to musical rhythms. According to Phillips, the team wanted to know whether cochlear implant recipients could hear and perceive rhythms, and whether those rhythms elicited a corresponding response in the sensorimotor areas of the implant’s cortex. The researchers tested nine cochlear implant recipients and nine hearing people, asking them to respond to three different tunes of a strong Latin dance song. Participants measured their body movements using a wearable Nintendo Wii simulator. The results of the study showed that both groups were able to respond in a timely manner when jazz drum music was played, although the hearing-impaired individuals made more synchronized responses. Phillips said, “For the cochlear implant recipients, the drum music was easier to perceive, probably because the drum music had a simpler rhythm and pitch that was easier for the implant to process.” The results of this study suggest that cochlear implant recipients can appreciate some of the more rhythmic music or melodies, and they may derive other additional benefits from them. “We know that musical training exercises brain plasticity and improves rhythm and speech perception, so this may help implantees understand spoken language more.” Dr. Phillips says, “And, more music appreciation can bring pleasure-especially strong rhythmic music, which activates body movement and feelings of joy. What we hear is what we feel, and what we feel is what we hear.”