A comparative study of the perception of music emotion between adults with and without visual impairment

Hye Young Park, Hyun Ju Chong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

In music listening, limitations on visual experience affect a listener’s abstract information processing and conceptualization of the music. The aim of this study is to examine the differences in emotional responses to music between adults with visual impairment (VI) and adults with normal vision (NV). By using specific, emotion-inducing music reflecting happiness, sadness, anger, and fear, this study considers factors such as music emotion identification, emotional valence, arousal, intensity, and musical preference. A total of 120 participants (60 VI and 60 NV) listened to sixteen 15-second music excerpts and reported which emotion and to what extent they perceived it, using a self-reported music emotion evaluation scale. The results indicated that both of the groups showed high congruence in music emotion identification. However, the VI group showed significantly higher arousal, intensity and preference for sadness, while showing the lowest score for the intensity of fear. The main factor affecting emotion identification was preference for the VI group, and valence for the NV group.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)225-240
Number of pages16
JournalPsychology of Music
Volume47
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Mar 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2017.

Keywords

  • emotional valence
  • intensity
  • music emotion identification
  • preference
  • sadness in music
  • visual impairment

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