What is musical anhedonia?

Musical anhedonia is a neurological condition characterized by an inability to derive pleasure from music.

Research has shown that people with this condition have reduced functional connectivity between the cortical regions responsible for processing sound and the subcortical regions related to reward and pleasure.

Music is often considered to be a universal language, and individuals with musical anhedonia may find it difficult to understand why they do not gain pleasure from it. For these people, music is something that is halfway between boredom and a distraction, and they do not feel a positive feeling when they hear any music.

Researchers have investigated whether the correlation between music and the brain can impair "social bonding". Researchers found similar images of the brain of an autistic person and the brain of a person with musical anhedonia. This suggests that specific musical anhedonia exists as a discrete neurological condition.

Two core societal benefits have emerged from the new research into the condition: it has helped people with the condition to better understand why they are affected by it; and it has helped to demonstrate to the rest of the population that it is a genuine condition that impacts the lives of many people.